Constellations · Constellation · Herculis · Her
Constellation
Hercules
The greatest hero of Greek myth, kneeling upside down with his foot on the dragon’s head — and carrying the finest star cluster in the northern sky.
- Genitive
- Herculis
- Area
- 1,225 square degrees · 5th of 88
- Brightest star
- Kornephoros · magnitude 2.78
- Naked-eye stars
- 244 brighter than magnitude 6.5
- Highest at midnight
- early June
Look for
The Keystone is his body. On its western side lies M 13, a ball of several hundred thousand stars; binoculars show it as a fuzzy star.
History
In 1974 the Arecibo telescope beamed a message at M 13 — it will arrive in about 25,000 years.
Did you know
The Sun and all its planets are heading roughly towards Hercules, at about 20 km/s relative to the stars around us.