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Ephemeris: 05/22/2025 – Finding Hercules among the spring stars

May 22, 2025 Comments off

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, May 22nd. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 9:12, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:06. The Moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:51 tomorrow morning.

In the eastern sky at 11 PM about a third of the way along the line from the bright star Vega in the east northeast and Arcturus high in the southeast is the constellation of Hercules the hero. It’s kind of hard to spot, although it’s one distinctive feature is the box of four stars called the Keystone of Hercules which means it’s wider at the top than at the bottom. That is his body. He’s upside down in the sky according to how they draw the picture of Hercules. Most of his stars are reasonably dim. This is the great hero of Greek myth. While in the winter sky the bright and splashy constellation of Orion the hunter, was kind of a hard luck hero, with no real accomplishments. Hercules has an astronomical jewel that I’ll talk about tomorrow.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

A finder for Hercules
A finder for Hercules. Looking towards the eastern sky, from the horizon to the zenith, for Vega in the east northeast and Arcturus high in the southeast. The three stars near the zenith are the handle stars of the Big Dipper whose arc points to Arcturus. A third of the way from Vega to Arcturus can be found Hercules with its Keystone of four stars, a distinctive pattern though they aren’t very bright. Hercules is seen upside down, and in the artist’s figure from Stellarium he appears to be fighting the Hydra. Created using Stellarium, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.

Categories: Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Mythology, Observing Tags: , , ,