Praesepe

/pri see"pee, pruy"seuh pee'/, n. Astron.

an open star cluster in the center of the constellation Cancer, visible to the naked eye. Also called Beehive cluster, Manger.

[1650-60; < L praesepe crib from which cattle or horses are fed, manger; the neighboring brighter stars Gamma and Delta Cancri (Asellus Borealis and Asellus Australis) were pictured as asses which fed from a manger]

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▪ astronomy

also called  Beehive 

      (catalog numbers NGC 2632 and M 44), open, or galactic, cluster of several hundred stars in the zodiacal constellation Cancer and located 590 light-years from Earth. Visible to the unaided eye as a small patch of bright haze, it was first distinguished as a group of stars by Galileo. It was included by Hipparchus in the earliest known star catalog, c. 129 BC.

      The name Praesepe (Latin: “Cradle,” or “Manger”) was used even before Hipparchus' time. The name Beehive is of uncertain but more recent origin.

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