The Beehive in Cancer looked pretty good last night. Did anybody else see it?
Image by Iain Farrell
The beehive in Wellington.
Question by Dump the liberals into Jupiter: The Beehive in Cancer looked pretty good last night. Did anybody else see it?
I saw a satellite go right through it, SW to NE, while I was watching. I was using my Orion 9×63 Little Giants, which is my 2nd-biggest pair. I could see all of those doubles the Beehive is famous for. Are those actually bound binary systems, or optical doubles only?
What do you think? Answer below!
5 Responses to The Beehive in Cancer looked pretty good last night. Did anybody else see it?
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They are more than likely bound systems. Remember that the Beehive (M44) is an actual physical star cluster bound (for now) by its own gravity. If M44 was merely an asterism, such as the Coathanger, then a case could be made for optical doubles.
I suppose one or two could be separate cluster members on other sides of the cluster, but given the looseness of M44, I think it is unlikely.
Search first before you ask it
December 25, 2011 at 5:37 pm
ooooooooh!
i haven;t gone OC hunting in a long time.
been to focused on those lousy galaxies, that look like squat in my six inch scope.
your binoculars intimidate the heck out of my best pair.
well, my best pair that i didn’t lose in the divorce settlement, anyway.
i really need to spend some money on my hobby again, no?
i am a “free man” after all, now.
i usd to photograph the beehive regularily, especially when a planet or the moon would be in the field of view.
i miss those days.
don’t let it happen to you!
stay young, yo!
Rude Dog
December 25, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Ironically, YES! I was out with my son-in-law and I focused in on it along with some other clusters. We’re also going out tonight, except we are going to a much, much darker area. The seeing was not all that great where we were last night. The LP is pretty bad in my area and I happen to live in one of the worst LP areas in the entire state! I really wanted to look for the newly-found supernova in NGC 4088. We’ll see…gotta stop here…don’t want to violate the Y!A rules.
Daryl S
December 25, 2011 at 7:15 pm
it was cloudy, alas.
the beehive is one of the best binocular clusters in the sky!
Tina L
December 25, 2011 at 7:33 pm
Not last night, but the night before. It was lovely in my 6″ Schmidt-Cassegrain, as was the smaller M67 nearby. It’s hard to tell in an open cluster whether stars are optical or physical doubles.
Geoff G
December 25, 2011 at 8:02 pm