M44 - Beehive Cluster
610 light years away in the constellation Cancer. It is an open cluster with approximately 1000 stars in the local group. It is a naked eye object only in really dark skies, but it makes a great visual object in a telescope or binoculars.

#astrophotography #astronomy #deepsky #darksky #cloughjordandarkskybowl #beehivecluster #seestar_s50

Last night was surprisingly successful for #astrophotography. I shot five targets, and got good results for three of them. The fifth ... I'll add its data to my previous sessions later.

First up was the #Moon. At about 3/4 full, it is now a major issue for many targets, but makes for a great image itself, as the surface is mostly visible, but still has the sun hitting at an angle, so we get great shadows.

Second was the #TarantulaNebula , aka #C103 or #NGC2070 .

Next up was a bit of an experiment - #Orion 's Belt. This was a roughly 1 hour mosaic, and I am pretty pleased with how it has come out.

Last for the evening was the #BeehiveCluster or #M44. I don't often shoot clusters, but I thought this was in a good position. Sadly there is no nebulosity associated with it. Despite this, it has come up looking very pretty.

Here is a little collage of the evenings shots.

#astronomy #Astrodon #backyardAstronomy #southernhemisphere #Dwarf3 #Snapseed

Rubin with M41 during First Look Observations

Credit: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/P. Horálek (Institute of Physics in Opava)

https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2521i/

@VRubinObs

#RubinFirstLook #CaptureTheCosmos #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrodon #Rubin #observatory #RubinObservatory #science #telescope #Messier41 #opencluster #starcluster #beehivecluster #astrophotography #nightskyphotography

#Messier 44, also known as the #BeehiveCluster, is an open #starcluster located in the #constellation #Cancer, approximately 610 light-years away from Earth. The cluster reaches its annual culmination at astronomical midnight and is best observed around late January.

Detailed Information: https://astrocamp.eu/m44

▼ Baader APO 95 | Canon EOS R(a) '24

#astrophoto #astrophotography #nightsky #space #sky #astronomy #telescope #clearsky #photography #nature #astrodon