Constellation Profile - Cancer

I had the opportunity to map the dim constellation Cancer on March 3, 2017.  A casual observer would absolutely hate this constellation when looking at it from the city.  It is the dimmest zodiac constellation and only a handful of stars can be seen under urban light pollution.  As far as apparent magnitude the second brightest object in the constellation is, in fact, a Messier object: M44 -- The Beehive Cluster.  Cancer is the zodiacal constellation for those born between June 22 and July 22.  My middle child is a cancer.

There are several myths associated with Cancer the crab.  It is said that while Heracles was fighting the infamous hydra, the goddess Hera sent a crab to distract him.  Heracles not missing a beat during the fight kicked the crab so hard it wound up in the sky.  Other sources have Heracles squashing the crab beneath is feet and Hera placed the crab in the sky for its courage.  Since the crab lost the fight it received no bright stars.  An artist interpretation is shown below and you can actually see the Beehive Cluster in the

Cancer (Artist Interpretation)

Cancer was particularly a difficult constellation to map due to the very few bright stars, light pollution and the partly cloudy sky on March 3.  I used M44 as a guide to hop to the stars throughout the constellation with my binoculars.  The log is provided below.

Cancer Observation Record

I hope you have a chance to find some stars in this constellation.  M44 is certainly quite beautiful in a pair of binoculars.  Also, if you have a wide-field telescope it would definitely be worth hunting it down!  If you are lucky you might be able to snag M67, a fainter open cluster just to the West of Alpha Cancri at the bottom left of the constellation.