Star Constellations-Hercules
Created | Updated Jan 29, 2003
There is a more standardized h2g2as version of this page
at A949449 what follows below is the earlier version.
Genitive: Herculis
short form: Her
Area 1,225 Square Degrees.
Looking between Vega and Arcturus with a fairly dark sky one may spot what appears to be a backwards letter k in the sky. This is the constellation Hercules
It is named after a great superhero in greek mythology. Like all good superheroes he routinely handled impossible tasks. He was born the son of Zeus and an earthly queen. This liason enraged Hera, the wife of Zeus, so she set about to destroy the boy. Hercules survived and later in life he acomplished twelve seemingly impossible tasks chronicled elsewhere and at the end of his earthly life his image was placed in the sky.
The upper half of the letter k is comprized of the stars pi,eta,zeta,and epsilon. These are called the keystone. I wonder if it is just coincidence that the magnitude on pi is 3.14 When the messier tables were developed two globular clusters were noted in Hercules.
This entry is part of the
h2g2as constellations project.
it has a more standardized version of this entry and a link to see this
starchart
| Star | Name | Brightness (m) | Distance (lightyears) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| α Her | Ras Algathi | 3.0 | 380 | Triple Star |
| β Her | Kornephorus | 2.78 | 162 | ----- |
| ζ Her | ---- | 3.02 | 35 | --- |
| η Her | ---- | 3.48 | 112 | ----- |
| π Her | ---- | 3.14 | --- | --- |
| ε Her | ---- | 3.92 | 163 | ----- |
| δ Her | Sarin | 3.12 | 78 | --- |
| ω Her | cujam | 5.0 | --- | ----- |
| Catalogue No | Type | Brightness (m) | Distance (lightyears) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M13 | globular cluster | 5.8 | 15,000 to 35,000 | -- |
| M92 | globular cluster | 6.4 | 25,000 to 27,000 | -- |
