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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
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.
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