Deep-sky object
Beehive
Beehive is an open cluster 577 light-years away, in Cancer, about 18 light-years across, seen as it was 577 years ago.
See it live
It is on the live 3D map, where it really is.
Key facts
- Type
- Open cluster
- Constellation
- Cancer
- Distance
- 577 light-years
- Size
- about 18.0 light-years across
- Brightness from Earth
- magnitude 3.1
- Catalogue
- M44, NGC 2632
See it from here
Bright enough to see with your own eyes from a dark place.
How the map draws it
Drawn as a soft glow in the manner of its kind at its measured distance, as wide as it measures; the pattern in it is illustrative and its true shape is not drawn — the kind of thing, not this exact one · its catalogued stars are each drawn in their measured direction but gathered at this one distance, because the catalogue’s distances to single stars scatter by more than the cluster is deep; their depth inside it is not measured, and a few may be stars in front or behind.