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The Beehive
cluster (or M44 or
NGC2632),
lies in the constellation Cancer. It is one of the nearest
open clusters at only 520-610 light years away from our
solar system. Under dark skies it can be seen by the unaided
eye as a nebulous object.
Galileo was the first to observe the
Beehive in a telescope (1609)
and he could distinguish 40 stars. However since it is
visible to the eye it has been know since ancient times. To
the Greeks it was known as Phatne. The Latin translation for
Phatne is Praesepe, which means "manger".
There are two bright stars to the left in
the image. The one at the top is called
Asellus Borealis and the one at
the bottom is named Asellus Australis.
On the net one sometimes
come across open clusters images taken with Newtonian/RCOS
telescope. Due to the design of these telescopes the
brighter stars have diffraction spikes on those images. I
think it sometimes makes open cluster images more lively and
interesting so I processed a version where I added
diffraction spikes. One can obviously see that they are
artificial but I like the way the cluster "pops" out from
the general star field. Mouse over the image to see the
version with diffraction spikes.
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