- The Beehive cluster is in the constellation Cancer, the crab.
- The visual magnitude of the Beehive is 3.7.
- This cluster is M44, or Messier object number 44.
- Its catalog number is NGC 2632.
- M44 is an open cluster.
- It is commonly known as "Praesepe (Latin for 'manger'), Beehive cluster".
- It is easily visible to the naked eye.
- Some of the stars in the Beehive are: the eclipsing binary TX Cancri,
the metal line star Epsilon Cancri, and several Delta Scuti variables of magnitudes 7-8.
- Finding the cluster is a breeze. Having found alpha Cancri, place this star at the bottom of your vision. Omicron-1 and -2 (one over the other) are now at the center. Place these two stars at the bottom of your field of vision and delta will be at the upper right. If you now put delta at the southeast of your field of view the cluster will be at the center. (Whew!)
- The Beehive is about 400 million years old!
