Andrew Cooper
Dec 26, 2020    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 76x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

White, the brighter of an obvious double with the 8.7 magnitude HD73711 2' southwest, this pair is located in the heart of the Beehive M44, the field is filled with a couple dozen 6-7th magnitude stars amid a swarm of fainter members providing a lovely field, among the richest in the sky

Andrew Cooper
Mar 24, 2020    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 61x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

White, no companion noted, in the body of M44

Captain William Henry Smyth
Dec 24, 1830    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A star with a distant companion, on the Crab's body. A 6½, and B 7, both pale white; and there is a third star in the field, of nearly the same magnitude. There has been some little difficulty in identifying this object, since the letter ε was intended by Bayer to denote the whole nebulous appearance of the Præsepe, where 44 Messier may be termed the leader, and ε the whipper-in. It follows the triple star S 571, a little south of the parallel, with Δ RA 30s.8; and the principal, A, is Piazzi's No. 130, while B is No. 128, of Hora VIII. Sir W. Herschel considers this cluster as belonging to a certain nebulous stratum, so placed as to lie nearest to us. This stratum runs from ε Cancri over 67 Messier; and is under the same alignment as the preceding object, 129 P. VIII.; it is moreover crossed by an imagined ray or line from Procyon to the tail of the Great Bear.

― A Cycle of Celestial Objects Vol II, The Bedford Catalogue, William Henry Smyth, 1844

Drawings, descriptions, and CCD photos are copyright Andrew Cooper unless otherwise noted, no usage without permission.

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