Messier 44
M44
👁️ Naked-eye
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Object
- Type (NASA)
- Open Cluster
- Distance from Earth
- 600 light-years
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.7 mag
- Apparent size
- 95 ′
- NASA description
- Messier 44, or the "Beehive Cluster," buzzes with bright young stars.
Source:NASA Hubble (Messier/Caldwell catalogs) · checked 2026-11-02 ↗NASA HEASARC (Goddard Space Flight Center) · checked 2026-11-02 ↗
Related
Constellation
In everyday life
- Light from this object takes about 600 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left around AD 1426 (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 3.7 it is bright enough for the naked eye (limit about 6) — look from somewhere dark.
- It spans about 95′ of sky — about 3.1 times the full Moon's 31′.