SkyTour - Cancer - The Crab

Canis Minor

Cancer is the dimmest of all the Zodiac’s constellations with none of its stars brighter than magnitude 3.5. The Greek explanation for the dimness of Cancer the Crab was that it was crushed by Hercules for pinching his toes.

Cancer's one notable object is M44 – an open cluster of stars called the "Beehive". This collection of 75 stars or so can just be seen with the naked eye as a blur but some of its individual stars can be seen with binoculars.

This is the final constellation in our tour of the night sky. We hope you've enjoyed it and that it's helped to improve your understanding of astronomy.

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