Mentioned as early as 260 B.C., this cluster can be seen as
a fuzzy patch at the middle of the constellation Cancer. It is
also called "The Beehive" (for its appearance), or "Praesepe"
(Latin for "manger", with the stars gamma and delta Canceri as
the two asses eating from the manger; legend said that on these two
animals the gods Dionysos and Silenus rode into the battle against
the Titans, who were so frightened by the animals' braying that
the gods won). Galileo turned his telescope toward this fuzzy patch,
and was the first to see that it was in fact a dense collection of
stars. The cluster is located 577 light years from earth, and is about
730 million years old.

Image data:
Camera: Canon 350XT
Exposure: ??
Telescope: William Optics 66mm