Abbreviation: Â Her
English Name: Â The Hercules
Genitive:Â Rassalgethi
Hemisphere:Â Â Northern Hemisphere
Location:Â Between the constellations of Lyra and Corona Borealis.
Visible between latitudes: Â +90 and -50 degrees
Best season: Summer
Seen in three seasons:Â Spring, Summer, and AutumnÂ
Best seen in:Â middle of July
Seen between:Â April and December
Right Ascension (RA):Â 17 hour
Declination (DEC):Â Â +30 degrees
Area (square degrees): Â 1,225 (5th)
Hercules (The Hercules)
- A common form found in modern star charts uses the four-sided surrounded formed known as the “Keystone” asterism.
- Hercules contains two bright globular clusters: M13 - brightest globular cluster in the northern hemisphere, and M92.
Messier Objects
- M13 – visible to both the naked eye and binoculars under very good condition, is a globular cluster of the 6th magnitude that contains more than 300,000 stars; sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster or the Hercules Cluster.
- M92 -Â one of the brighter globular clusters in the northern hemisphere, but it is often overlooked by amateur astronomers because of its being close together to the even more outstanding dramatic M13.
Features of Interest
- The star Rasalgethi is a strangely colourful, multiple star; there is a giant red star with a bright green companion, and this star has its own tiny orange companion as resembling from stars as a `traffic light`.
Brightest Objects in Hercules
Named Stars
- Rasalgethi (Alpha 1 Her)
- Kornephoros (Beta Her)
- Sarin (Delta Her)
- Marfik (Kappa Her)
- Maasym (Lambda Her)
- Kajam (Omega Her)
Others
- Photo of the constellation;Â Hercules, as it appears to the naked eye. (Lines have been added for clarity.)
- Sky Chart  –  Hercules
- List of stars in Hercules.
Back to The 88 Constellations Lists page.