| Description | This was the third of four entries in Messier's pre-publication push, a naked-eye cluster that has been known since antiquity. Messier's entry: "(March 4, 1769) `Cluster of stars known by the name of the nebula in Cancer.'" <--> This was one of my favorite binocular targets in March of 23 when I was without a telescope. In binoculars, this is a reasonably "dense" target. It was my first experience of finding a target using a map and my wits rather than a computerized GoTo mount, and I enjoyed it immensely. Frankly, it looks more convincingly like a beehive in binoculars than it does in this image. |
