M44 or “Praesepe” as it is called, is a famous open cluster visible in the late winter/ springtime in the constellation of Cancer – The Crab. It is often nicknamed The Beehive cluster since it resembles a swarm of bees when viewed in a wide-field telescope or binoculars. Along with M45 it is one of the most immediately breathtaking sights in the deep sky. At about 510 light years it is one of the closer Open Cluster to the Earth and is about 12 light years across and contains about 1000 stars. Note the tiny, distant galaxy in the bottom of the cluster PGC24400. M44 (“Praesepe”), The Beehive Cluster Image Technical Data Imaged over two evenings, the 22 and 23 February 2019 from my backyard in Nottingham, UK. Conditions were far from ideal with a high, hazy mist that made transparency poor and subsequent processing difficult. Captured with Takahashi FSQ85…

M36 is an Open Cluster of stars (as opposed to a Globular Cluster) in the Constellation of Auriga.  M36 is high overhead in Europe during the nightimes of winter months and is one of three Messier Open Clusters in Auriga, the others being M37 and M38.  All of these are visible in a small pair of binoculars as nebulous and fuzzy blobs.  M36 and the other clusters make a fine site in a telescope and dozens of stars can be seen.  Note also the Red nebula to the top left – NGC 1931 (Sh2-237).  There are some tiny PGC catalogue galaxies, billions of light years away in this image. M36 Open Cluster in Auriga This image was taken from by backyard in Nottingham, UK on the 24th January 2018 with my Takahashi FSQ85 refractor and Moravian instruments G21-8300 CCD camera with Astrodon RGB Generation 2 E series filters on MESU…