h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Star constellations: Hercules 'the Strong Man' - A29028918
Author: Galaxy Babe - Front Page author - U128652

Another refugee from the h2g2 constellation project:

Hercules

Contributions will be credited as this is already a collaborate Entry.

GB

Hi GB, just a couple of notes that you might like to consider.

You could mention that Hercules is the Latin name but in Greek it’s Herakles. I’m not suggesting that you should change the name because that’s what the constellation is usually known as. But as most of the legend/myth is based on Greek mythology it might be good to at least footnote it.

The name Keystone comes from the shape of the four inner stars of the asterism which is like the central stone in an door’s archway. That is the keystone that locks all the others into place.


>…but it is known that 5,000 years ago in Babylon this constellation was known as a kneeling man!
One too many ‘known’s.

>It's a variable star, so it changes its position as the brightest constantly with…
That ‘suggests’ that it moves, which of course it doesn‘t. It needs rewording slightly to something like:
It‘s a variable star so it becomes brighter than Kornephorus, which is normally of a greater magnitude.

>Sarin is a bogus double star.
It’s not bogus, it is a double star.
Sarin appears to have a companion but they are not linked with one another, this is just a line of sight illusion.

>By a very strange coincidence the magnitude of Pi Her is 3.14
I wouldn’t have called that very strange, only a coincidence. It might have been ‘strange’ if it had been 3.142 or ‘very strange’ if it was 3.142 recurring.

Hope this helps

DK

thanks for the feedback Deke

all attended to

The former Microbiological Rearch Establishment of the MoD at Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire (built after WWII to protect the UK against a potential biological warfare threat from the former Soviet Union; and which was, I understand, the longest brick-built building in the country at the time it was built) has a fresco over the front entrance depicting the 12 Labours of Hercules.

'By coincidence the magnitude of pi Her is 3.14.'

I would just emphasise this by writing,

'Entirely by coincidence the magnitude of pi Her is 3.14.

Reh Mythology (and History), I understand that, pre the Grecian astronomers, it had various names. Thus the Phoenecans called it Melkarth, after one of their gods (and, as you say, one of the stars is still called Melkarth). The astronomer priests of the Euphrates valley associated it with the sun god.

thanks Big Al

updated

Is it "Strongman" or "Strong Man"

That is a great opening quote

I believe that it's 'strongman' - similar to eg longshoreman and fisherman

I see that Herakles and 12 seemingly impossible tasks are the same link.

The paste button got hit twice here:
>>By coincidence the magnitude of pi Her is 3.14. Entirely by coincidence the magnitude of pi Her is 3.14.<<
I might also move 3.14 so that it doesn't have to have a period after it:
->Entirely by coincidence, 3.14 is the magnitude of pi Her.<-

In the 'New General Catalogue (NGC) Objects', what does the remark 'Arecibo message directed here' mean?

I'll give the a more careful read when I'm awake

(and your other two also - btw, how did these sneak past the new subscription feature that is supposed to alert one in such a case? Is 2legs to blame?)

Hi pailaway

Strongman

<>
I'm unsure what you mean, this is the code:
Herakles was the son of the great god Zeus and an earthly queen called Alkmene. This liaison enraged Hera, the goddess wife of Zeus, so she set about to destroy the boy. He survived, and later performed eight heroic acts and accomplished 12 seemingly impossible tasks.


<>By coincidence the magnitude of pi Her is 3.14. Entirely by coincidence the magnitude of pi Her is 3.14.<<
I might also move 3.14 so that it doesn't have to have a period after it:
->Entirely by coincidence, 3.14 is the magnitude of pi Her.<-
>>
done



<>
Do you think I ought to move the above para entitled "The Arecibo message" with a subheader down into the column cell?

I have no idea about that new subscription feature either, nothing is popping up on my PS

I like it. I don't really understand why the second two sections are there, though. Maybe in an entry about the mythology of Hercules in general, but it seems out of place in an entry about the constellation.

Hi Jodan, I have linked to the EGEs on the myth of Hercules, but the entries are supposed to stand alone, so that's why there's a little of the myth in there.

No, I understand why there's something about the myth of Hercules, but I don't understand why you have lists of things that are named for Hercules in the Hercules in Nature and Hercules in Modern Culture section. I would wager that almost all of those things are named for the myth of Hercules, and his character, rather than after the constellation. So while they may be relevant in an entry about Hercules himself, in an entry about the constellation, they sort of stick out.

Oh I see what you mean, the last two sections!
Well, I've been told: "You definitely have the touch to make this dry stuff entertaining" by another Researcher whose opinion I value. If it's frivolous info it can be skipped by the reader, but others who find the tables and star data boring find the ditties I add quite interesting, so they'll stay, unless they aren't suitable, in which case they will be removed

Oops - yes, the links are different. Last night when I was so tired I could hardly see, they seemed the same - on account of they have the same blob. My bad. No, wait - not mine - 2legs

On the matter of the last two sections - I will have to say that things like 'The Three Stooges Meet Hercules' are quite fun to read even if not strictly relevant to the constellation.

But I do see what Jodan means - and I wonder if all that's needed is to insert a header like 'Down to Earth' immediately before 'Hercules in Nature' and 'Hercules in Modern Culture' and then make those subheaders instead. So you don't really change anything, only to make a little segue.

Oh, and now I understand about the arecibo message. now that i'm awake.

apparently one needs to be alert in order to comment sensibly around here.

()

I could tweak the para, but I don't want two tables following each other

I've done "Down To Earth" but had to move the mention of the moon crater to the intro, as that no longer fitted

OK try that

The crater mention still doesn't quite fit. hmmm... keeping in mind that i'm up late again and probably won't make much sense, how about this. Right after

'At the end of his earthly life he became an immortal god and Zeus placed his image in the sky as a constellation.'

you could add, as an offhand comment,

'As if to show how even the mighty sometimes fall, there is an impact crater on the Moon named after Hercules.'

does that make sense?

I've rearranged the the Arecibo message section as well