The Beehive open star cluster (M44, NGC 2632, also known as Praesepe) will be well placed for observation. It will reach its highest point in the sky at around midnight local time.
At a declination of +19°40', it is easiest to see from the northern hemisphere; it can be seen at latitudes between 89°N and 50°S.
From Cambridge, it will be visible between 17:58 and 05:28. It will become accessible at around 17:58, when it rises 15° above your eastern horizon, and then reach its highest point in the sky at 23:41, 67° above your southern horizon. It will become inaccessible at around 05:28 when it sinks to 16° above your western horizon.
At magnitude 3.1, M44 is tricky to make out with the naked eye except from a dark site, but is visible through a pair of binoculars or small telescope.
The position of M44 is as follows:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude | Angular Size |
| M44 | 08h40m20s | +19°40' | Cancer | 3.1 | 95'00" |
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
| The sky on 31 January 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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49% 21 days old |
All times shown in EST.
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Source
The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE405 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.
Image credit
© Digitised Sky Survey (DSS); Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS-II)