Archive
Ephemeris: 05/22/2025 – Finding Hercules among the spring stars
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
07/07/223 – Ephemeris – GTAS meeting and presentation: Observing the summer skies with the naked-eye
This is Ephemeris for Friday, July 7th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 25 minutes, setting at 9:30, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:05. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 12:38 tomorrow morning.
Viewing Summer skies with just your Eyes will be the presentation by Robert Carroll at tonight’s meeting of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at Northwestern Michigan College’s Rogers Observatory at 9 pm. Bob is one of the charter members of the society. He will show artist’s interpretation of the heavens. Then, focusing on Hercules, the Summer Triangle, and the Milky Way. Hopefully, he “will inspire young parents, and their children, to go OUTSIDE, leave the screens and tablets behind, and LOOK UP to see the night sky.” There are two ways to attend: In person at the observatory, south of Traverse City on Birmley Road, or via Zoom with a link provided by the society’s website gtastro.org just prior to the meeting.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
06/13/2023 – Ephemeris – Messier 13, the Great star cluster in Hercules
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 13th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 9:29, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:34 tomorrow morning.
About a third of the way between the bright stars Vega which is high in the east and Arcturus, high in the south, can be found the Keystone of Hercules, a four-star box wider at the top than at the bottom. Along the right edge, a third of the way down is what looks like a faint star to someone with really good vision. In binoculars the star becomes fuzzy. One needs a larger telescope probably six or eight inches in diameter to begin to see some stars among the fuzziness. That is a globular star cluster containing hundreds of thousands of stars. This is the Great Hercules Globular Star Cluster. It’s beautiful if seen in a large telescope, such as the one brought out to the star parties at the Sleeping Bear Dunes, especially in August and September.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Dan’s image is rotated from Scott’s. The bright star at the lower left of Scott’s image is the same as the one at the lower left of Dan’s.
Globular star clusters are uniformly very old. M 13 is estimated to be between 11 and 12 billion years old, more than twice as old as our Sun and the solar system. As I say in my talks: “They don’t make them like that any more.” Globular clusters form a spherical distribution around the Milky Way galaxy with an increasing concentration toward the center. Do they reveal the original spherical shape of the galaxy before the gas and dust collapsed into the disk of the galaxy we see today? The star clusters that form today lie in the disk, and contain a few hundreds or a thousand stars. They are called open or galactic star clusters. The Pleiades is the most famous example of this type of star cluster.
06/12/2023 – Ephemeris -Finding Hercules among the stars
This is Ephemeris for Monday, June 12th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 9:28, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:13 tomorrow morning.
Orion, the hard luck mythical Greek hunter, gets a splashy constellation in the winter sky, but the greatest 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 east-southeast. It is located above and right of the bright star Vega, in the east. Hercules’ central feature is a keystone shaped box of stars, called, of course, the Keystone of Hercules tilted to the left, which represents the old boy’s shorts. From the top and left corner stars extend lines of stars that are his legs, from the bottom and right stars, the rest of his torso and arms extend. So in one final indignity, he’s upside down in our sky. For those with a telescope, Hercules contains the beautiful globular star cluster Messier 13.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
06/24/2022 – Ephemeris – Finding the greatest celestial hero: Hercules
This is Ephemeris for Friday, June 24th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:58. The Moon, halfway from last quarter to new, will rise at 3:31 tomorrow morning.
Orion, the hard luck mythical Greek hunter, gets a splashy constellation in the winter sky, but the greatest 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 southeast. It is located right of the bright star Vega, in the east. Hercules’ central feature is a keystone shaped box of stars, called, of course, the Keystone of Hercules tilted to the left, which represents the old boy’s shorts. From the top and left corner stars extend lines of stars that are his legs, from the bottom and right stars, the rest of his torso and arms extend. So in one final indignity, he’s upside down in our sky. For those with a telescope, Hercules contains the beautiful globular star cluster Messier 13.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Hercules animation showing neighboring stars at 11 p.m. for mid-June. Click on image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
Hercules with all the stars visible in binoculars and its two globular star clusters: M13 and M92. M13 is almost bright enough to be spotted with the naked eye. It is easily visible in binoculars as a tiny fuzzy spot. It takes a telescope with an aperture of 6 – 8″ or 150 – 200 mm to begin to see some individual stars. M92 is dimmer and harder to resolve. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).
M 13, the Great Globular Star Cluster in Hercules. Credit: Scott Anttila.
05/31/2021 – Ephemeris – Hercules the constellation
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Memorial Day, Monday, May 31st. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 9:20, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:00. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 2:23 tomorrow morning.
Orion, the hard luck mythological Greek hunter gets a splashy constellation in the winter sky, but the greatest 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 fairly high in the east. It is located above and a bit right of the bright star, Vega east-northeast. Hercules’ central feature is a keystone shaped box of stars, called the Keystone laying on its side, which represents the old boy’s shorts. From each left corner stars extend lines of stars that are his legs, from the right stars, the rest of his torso and arms extend. So in one final indignity he’s upside down in our sky. For those with a telescope, Hercules contains the beautiful globular star cluster Messier 13.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Hercules can be found in the east among the line of constellations at around 11 pm in late May or early June between the bright stars Arcturus and Vega. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
M 13 is found on the western side of the Keystone. In this orientation when Hercules is in the east, it is the top side. Created using Stellarium with an annotation.
M 13, the Great Globular Star Cluster in Hercules. Credit: Scott Anttila.
M 13 is the brightest and finest globular star cluster in the northern hemisphere of the sky. It’s at a distance of 25 thousand light years. Some amateur astronomers can spot M 13 with the naked eye. It is a fuzzy spot in binoculars. I can barely resolve some of its stars in an 8-inch (200 mm) telescope. It’s a wonderful sight in anything bigger! The slightly dimmer M 92 is also slightly farther away at nearly 27 thousand light years.
Click on any of the images above to enlarge them.
06/18/2020 – Ephemeris – Finding the constellation Hercules
This is Ephemeris for Thursday, June 18th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 4:48 tomorrow morning.
Orion, the hard luck mythological Greek hunter gets a splashy constellation in the winter sky, but the greatest 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 very high in the east-southeast. It is located above and right of the bright star, Vega in the east. Hercules’ central feature is a box shaped of star wider at the top than the bottom, 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. Some see him crouched down, club upraised holding the Hydra about to throttle it. For those with a telescope it contains the beautiful globular star cluster M13.
The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Hercules animation showing neighboring stars at 11 p.m. for mid June, Click on image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
M13, the Great Globular Star Cluster in Hercules. Credit: Scott Anttila
Stars and M13 (Great Star Cluster in Hercules) visible in binoculars in the Keystone of Hercules. Click in the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
06/16/2020 – Ephemeris – One circlet of stars, two constellations: old world and new world
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:30, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:52 tomorrow morning.
High in the south-southeast at 11 this evening can be seen a small nearly circular constellation of Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown. It is just below Boötes, the kite shaped constellation off the handle of the Big Dipper. According to Greek myth the crown was given by the gods to the princess Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete. The crown is more like a tiara with the bright star Alphecca at the front. To the Anishinaabe people, who are natives of our region it is the Sweat Lodge. Part of what we call Hercules next to it is the Exhausted Bather, who is lying on the ground after the ceremony. The seven stones that are heated for the Sweat Lodge are the Pleiades, now too close to the Sun to be seen.
The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Animated Corona Borealis/Sweat Lodge Finder Chart looking to the south-southeast at 11 p.m. June 16th. Click on the image to enlarge Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
06/20/2019 – Ephemeris – Hercules wuz robbed!
Ephemeris for Thursday, June 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:57. The Moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 12:12 tomorrow morning.
Orion, the hard luck mythological Greek hunter gets a splashy constellation in the winter sky, but the greatest 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 southeast. It is located above and right of the bright star, Vega 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. Some see him crouched down, club upraised holding the Hydra about to throttle it. For those with a telescope it contains the beautiful globular star cluster M13.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Hercules animation showing neighboring stars at 11 p.m. for mid June, Click on image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
Stars and M13 (Great Star Cluster in Hercules) visible in binoculars in the Keystone of Hercules. Click in the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium.
M13, the Great Globular Star Cluster in Hercules. It takes a telescope with an aperture (diameter) of 6 inches (150 mm) to begin the resolve the stars in it. Credit: Scott Anttila
06/14/2018 – Ephemeris – The mighty hero Hercules in the sky
Ephemeris for Flag Day, Thursday, June 14th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 9:29, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 10:27 this evening.
Orion, the hard luck Greek hunter gets a splashy constellation in the winter sky, but the greatest 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 southeast. It is located above and right of the bright star, Vega 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. Some see him crouched down, club upraised holding the Hydra about to throttle it. For those with a telescope it contains the beautiful globular star cluster M13.
The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Hercules animation showing neighboring stars, constellation outlines, deep sky objects, and constellation art for Hercules. Created using Stellarium. Click on image to enlarge.
M13, the Great Globular Star Cluster in Hercules. Credit: Scott Anttila
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 