Hobbies And Interests
Beehive
Although Cancer has no very bright stars, it does contain what the ancients nicknamed the "Beehive," an open cluster of some 300 stars that to someone without optical aid looks like a fuzzy patch in the center of the constellation.
History
The Beehive contains over 300 different individual stars, most of them approaching the last stages of stellar life. This area of the sky was of particular interest to Galileo; it was one of the first places he looked after developing his telescope.
Distance
Cancer's brightest star is Al Tarf, which is 290 light years away. It appears faint because of this great distance but is actually 660 times brighter than the star we call our Sun.
Time Frame
Al Tarf, has a companion star that requires 76,000 Earth years to complete one full orbit around it. Al Tarf is so large and bright that if viewed from this star it would shine with a luminosity 30 times that of the full moon.
Fun Fact
Within Cancer is the spiral galaxy classified NGC2775, which is over 60 million light years from Earth. Someone viewing this galaxy through a telescope sees light from it that began its journey to her eyes 60 million years ago.