Friday, February 28, 2014

APOD 3.7


Photoed above is Praesepe the Beehive cluster, 600 light years away, also known on the star chart as M44. Compared to the sun, M44 is about 600 million years old and is thought to have been born with the star cluster Hayades from the constellation Taurus which we have recently learned about in class through constellation quizzes. M44 is an open cluster that spans about 15 light years across, holding 1,000 stars and covers about 3 full moons in the constellation Cancer. M44 is an easily identifiable night sky object that can be seen without any tools and contains hot blue main sequence stars that are seen within the photo above.

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