Beehive Open Cluster

 The constellation Cancer is hard to see.  The best bet is to find the Beehive Cluster first.  The Beehive is also known as Praesepe (Latin for manger or crib), or more technically, as Messier 44 (M44).  

The Beehive resides in Cancer, which is between Leo and Gemini.

The Beehive cluster: A swarm of 1,000 stars (earthsky.org)

There are approximately 1,000 stars in the beautiful Beehive cluster, which is an open cluster of stars in our galaxy. Open clusters are stars that are gravitationally bound and are created out of the same star-forming nebula, such as the stars in the Orion Nebula. The Beehive is one of the nearest open clusters to our sun and Earth. It has a larger population of stars than most other nearby clusters.

The Beehive’s distance is about 577 light-years from our solar system. The cluster shines at magnitude +3.7. If you use binoculars to see the Beehive, the brightest star you are seeing is 42 Cancri.