Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Thursday, June 23rd.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 9:31.   The moon, at last quarter today, will rise at 1:30 tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 5:58.

The greatest Greek hero of all, Hercules, gets a dim group of stars on the border between the spring and summer stars.  At 11 p.m. Hercules is high in the southeastern sky.  It is located above and right of the bright star, Vega, also in the east.  Hercules’ central feature is a keystone shaped box of stars, called the Keystone, which represents the old boy’s shorts.  From each top corner extend lines of stars that are his legs, from the bottom stars, the rest of his torso and arms extend.  So in one final indignity he’s upside down in our sky.   Just below and right of the topmost star of the keystone is what looks like a fuzzy star in binoculars or small telescope.  It is the Great Hercules Globular Star Cluster, home to a million stars.

* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The constellation Hercules and his neighbors. Created with Stellarium.