Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Thursday, March 3rd.  The sun will rise at 7:16.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 15 minutes, setting at 6:32.   The moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 6:46 tomorrow morning.

At 9 this evening, the faint constellation, and member of the Zodiac, Cancer the crab will be located in the south southeast half way between the bright stars Castor and Pollux of the constellation Gemini, high in the south and the bright star Regulus in Leo the lion in the east.  Cancer is very dim, looking like an upside-down Y.  In the center of Cancer is a fuzzy spot to the unaided eye.  In binoculars or a low power telescope this fuzzy spot becomes a cluster of stars.  It is the Beehive cluster.  At 577 light years away, it is one of the closest star clusters, but more distant than the Pleiades and Hyades the face of Taurus the bull.  Of the three the Pleiades is the youngest at 100 million years  The Beehive is 7 times older.

* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Cancer rising in the southeast

Created using Stellarium.  Constellation art by Johan Meuris.

Praecepe is the old name for the Beehive star cluster possibly before the invention of the telescope.  Praecepe means “Manger”.  Below is the Beehive as seen in binoculars.

The Beehive star cluster (M44) as it would appear in binoculars.

Chart created using Cartes du Ciel.