The Beehive Cluster, also known as M44 and Praesepe (meaning ‘manger’ or ‘crib’ in Latin), is one of the brightest and biggest clusters in our night sky. From a dark location, you can spot it with your naked eye because it’s huge and the surrounding area is pretty dim in Cancer.
This cluster has a long history. Greek astronomer Hipparchus first recorded it way back in 130 BC. Back then, ancient stargazers called it a ‘little misty cloud’ because they couldn’t see individual stars with their naked eyes. But in 1609, Galileo Galilei was the first to spot it through a telescope and realized it was actually a bunch of stars.
It’s one of the closest star clusters to us, just 577 light-years away. That closeness makes it one of the biggest and brightest clusters you can see with your naked eye. In a binocular or small telescope, you can see dozens of bright stars, which makes it look like a swarm of bees.
About 200 stars are bright enough to be seen with a small telescope, but it actually has over 1,000! The ones you can see are mostly hot, young blue stars, but there are also some red giant stars.
The Beehive is easy to find from a dark spot. Look for a glowing patch of space between bright Pollux in Gemini and Regulus in Leo. It’s even more spectacular in binoculars and a telescope.
Beehive Cluster/M44
Rating: 🔵 Stagazer Favorite
Level: 🔵 Easy
How:
When: Dec - Apr
🌟 It’s Bright and Easy to See M44 is visible to the naked eye under dark skies, appearing as a misty patch in the constellation Cancer. Binoculars or a small telescope reveal a sparkling swarm of stars.
🌟 Perfect for Beginners Its brightness, size, and ease of location make it one of the best deep-sky targets for new stargazers learning their way around the night sky.
🌟 A Wide, Stunning Field M44 spans over 1.5 degrees—about three full moons wide—making it a gorgeous sight in binoculars or low-power telescopes, especially under clear, dark skies.
🌟 A Stellar Cradle The cluster is relatively young (about 600 million years old) and contains many bright, blue stars—offering a look into the early life of stellar systems.
🌟 A Link to Ancient Skywatchers The Beehive has been known since antiquity and was used by ancient civilizations as a weather omen and seasonal marker.
🌟 It’s Easy to Find M44 lies between Regulus (in Leo) and Pollux (in Gemini), making it easy to spot along the ecliptic—especially when the Moon or planets pass nearby.
🌟 It Often Hosts Planetary Visitors Because it sits near the path of the planets, M44 is frequently visited by the Moon or bright planets, offering stunning conjunctions throughout the year.
Open cluster: a loose group of a few dozen to a few thousand young stars that formed together and are loosely bound by gravity.
Beehive Cluster/M44
Find the constellation Cancer between the bright stars Pollux in Gemini and Regulus in Leo. About halfway between, look for a glowing patch about twice the diameter of our moon.
Using a binocular or a telescope finder, point to the Beehive Cluster.
Using a binocular or telescope eyepiece with low power, explore the cluster.
Beehive Cluster/M44
✅ View under dark skies, but don’t worry about perfection. M44 is bright and visible even from suburban areas, though it shines best under a dark, transparent sky.
✅ Use binoculars for the best overall view. The cluster is large—over 1.5 degrees across—so binoculars offer the ideal combination of magnification and field of view to see the full “swarm” of stars at once.
✅ Try a small telescope with low power. If you use a telescope, choose a low-power eyepiece to keep the full cluster in view. Higher magnifications may zoom in too much and reduce the cluster’s impact.
✅ Find it using Regulus and Pollux. M44 lies in the heart of the constellation Cancer, between the bright stars Regulus in Leo and Pollux in Gemini.
✅ Look for it with the naked eye as a hazy patch. On a clear, dark night, the Beehive Cluster is visible to the naked eye as a faint, misty glow—often described as a “cloudy star.”
✅ Observe when it’s high in the sky. Aim to view it when Cancer is near its highest point—typically late winter to early spring evenings—so you’re looking through the least amount of atmosphere.
✅ Try observing when the Moon is absent. Although M44 is bright, moonlight can wash out its subtler members and reduce the cluster’s contrast with the background sky.
✅ Use a reclining chair for binocular viewing. Since the cluster often sits high overhead, a reclining chair makes for a much more comfortable and extended viewing experience.
Beehive Cluster/M44
✅ Naked Eye
To the naked eye under dark skies, Messier 44 appears as a soft, misty patch of light in the heart of Cancer, sometimes described as a faint cloud or hazy star.
✅ Binoculars
Through binoculars, it transforms into a brilliant, wide-spread cluster filled with dozens of bright stars forming a loose, sparkling pattern that fills the field of view.
✅ Small Telescope
In a small telescope, the Beehive Cluster bursts into a rich, starry vista, with individual stars of varying brightness standing out clearly across a broad background.
✅ Medium Telescope
A medium telescope reveals even more stars and subtle color differences among them, but the wide field may begin to feel slightly cramped.
⚠️ Large Telescope
In a large telescope, while more stars are visible, the field of view is often too narrow to appreciate the cluster as a whole, making binoculars or low-power views the best way to experience M44’s full grandeur.
Beehive Cluster/M44
Messier 44 is bright enough to remain visible in even heavily light-polluted skies, but its full beauty—its richness, symmetry, and the immersive starfield around it—only comes alive under dark skies. In pristine conditions, it feels expansive and vibrant. In urban settings, it shrinks to a sparse group, losing the delicate threads that make it one of the loveliest open clusters in the sky.
🟣 In Bortle 1–2 skies, the Beehive is a dazzling, sprawling swarm of stars. Dozens of pinpoint lights fill the view, spread loosely across a broad area of sky. The cluster appears fully integrated into a lush background of faint stars, giving it depth and dimension. Its nickname becomes clear—it resembles a lively, humming field of starry “bees.” The dark sky enhances both contrast and clarity, making even the fainter members stand out crisply.
🔵 In Bortle 3–4 skies, M44 still appears striking and easily recognizable. The brighter stars dominate the view, forming graceful chains and curves, while some of the faintest members begin to blend into the slightly brighter background. The cluster retains its character, but the sense of being surrounded by a star-rich sky begins to fade.
🟢 In Bortle 5–6 skies, the Beehive loses some of its sparkle. The cluster is still visible, but the background becomes flatter, and the fainter stars disappear into the skyglow. The brighter members remain prominent, but the overall sense of richness and cohesion weakens. It feels more like a loose pattern of stars than a deep, immersive cluster.
🟡 In Bortle 7+ skies, M44 becomes a subdued version of itself. Only the brightest dozen or so stars remain visible, and the cluster’s shape may appear vague or broken. It no longer feels like a concentrated group, and the surrounding sky is largely blank. Much of the Beehive’s beauty and charm is drowned out by light pollution.
Beehive Cluster/M44
DSOs within 48° or 2 outstretched hands at arm's length
Beehive Cluster/M44 - a sparkling swarm of stars in Cancer’s heart
Find the constellation Cancer between the bright stars Pollux in Gemini and Regulus in Leo. About halfway between, look for a glowing patch about twice the diameter of our moon.
Using a binocular or a telescope finder, point to the Beehive Cluster.
Using a binocular or telescope eyepiece with low power, explore the cluster.
