Beehive (M44) Observation Details
M44 Daily Motion
M44 will be visible until May, 31, when it will move too close to the Sun. During this time, its proximity to the Sun will cause it to disappear from the night sky, making it unobservable for a while.
M44 Visibility Timetable on December 21
Rise and Set Timetable
| Time | Elevation | |
| Astrosession begin | 18:48 | -11° |
| M44 rise | 19:58 | |
| Moon Rise, 57% illuminated | 23:50 | 43° |
| M44 transit | 03:06 | 70° |
| Astrosession end | 06:13 | 45° |
| Civil sunrise | 07:20 | 33° |
| Sunrise | 07:52 | 26° |
| M44 set | 10:15 | |
| Moon Set | 12:24 | -20° |
Track M44 Position Throughout the Night
← Sat, 21 December 2024 →
| Time | |
| Altitude | |
| Azimuth |
M44 - Beehive Cluster
The Beehive Cluster (M44), also known as Praesepe, is an open cluster located in the constellation Cancer. It was observed by Ptolemy in ancient times and later cataloged by Charles Messier in 1769. M44 is one of the nearest open clusters to Earth and contains a rich population of stars.
M44 spans about 23 light-years across and contains over 1,000 stars. The cluster is approximately 610 light-years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 3.7, making it visible to the naked eye under dark skies.
M44 Image Gallery
DSS Blue
DSS Red
DSS Near-Infrared
DSS Composite image
The photos are taken from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2), which was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) under NASA contract, using data from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the National Geographic Society-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II).
Special thanks to the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, and the California Institute of Technology for their significant contributions.
Finder Chart for M44
| Object name | M44 |
| Field of view | |
| Limiting magnitude | |
| M44 coordinates | 8.67283, 19.67206 |
| Center coordinates | 8.67283, 19.67206 |
M44 Passage Through Night
Current position of M44
| Time | 07:39 |
| Latitude | 39.9625 |
| Longitude | -83.0061 |
| M44 elevation | 30° |
| M44 Azimuth | 88° |
Annual motion of M44
| Date | Sun, 22 December 2024 |
| Twighlight start | 18:44 |
| Twighlight end | 06:07 |
| Twighlight duration | 11h 23m |
| Rise | 19:58 |
| Set | 10:15 |
| Elevation at transit | 70° |
| Transit time | 03:06 |
| Equatorial coordinate | RA: 08h 40m 22s", Dec: 19° 40' 19s |
| Magnitude | 3 |
| Constellation | Cancer |
The graph is structured with the vertical axis showing the hours of the day, ranging from 12 AM to 12 AM the next day, while the horizontal axis spans each day of the year.
The reddish shaded area indicates the periods when the M44 is above the horizon, visible to observers. The white line marks the times when the celestial object reaches its highest point in the sky each day, known as the transit.
Data Credits
The nebulae information on this page is sourced from the OpenNGC project, developed by Matteo Verga. OpenNGC provides detailed data on the NGC catalog, which is a valuable resource for exploring deep-sky objects such as nebulae.
For more details or to contribute to OpenNGC, visit the official GitHub repository: OpenNGC on GitHub.