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The Strong Man Constellation

Back in ancient Greece, there were no tabloids. Their equivalent of movie/sports/rock stars did not get their pictures plastered over magazines posted prominently in supermarket checkout lines. Instead the gods saw fit to honor the truly great heroes of Greek society by putting their images up in the heavens among the constellations. Today we know a little bit more about the stars and recognize that they are enormous balls of fusing hydrogen nuclei that have been around since long before ancient Greece and even the dawn of our species. But it's still fun to make out a group of stars and pretend that they represent the strong man, Hercules.

Watching the Strong Man
- You can view the constellation Hercules in the northern hemisphere from April to October. The constellation begins low in the sky in early spring and reaches maximum height on August 1. Star-gazers should look for the "keystone" structure: four bright stars at the center of the constellation in an almost square-shaped arrangement. Think of this as Hercules' torso. The arms and legs of the strong man radiate out from this center.
Globular Cluster M13
- On the western side of the keystone there is what might at first appear to be a faint, fuzzy star. This is actually globular cluster M13, and comprises over 300,000 stars. This dense collection of stars is within our own galaxy, the Milky Way, but is about 21,000 light years away. M13 is on the threshold of detectability with the naked eye and should be visible to an observer watching clear skies from a nonurban area and with limited moonlight. Individual stars cannot be seen with the naked eye or modest amplification with a pair of binoculars but can be resolved with a moderately high-powered amateur telescope.
Stars in Hercules
- None of the stars that make up the constellation are first-magnitude stars. Astronomers classify the brightest stars as first-magnitude stars. The higher the magnitude, the dimmer the star, to us here on Earth. A first-magnitude star is about 2.5 times brighter than a second-magnitude star. The brightest star in Hercules, designated alpha Hercules, and also known as Resalgethi, varies in brightness between 2.6 to 3.4 in magnitude.
Mythology
- Hercules was arguably the greatest hero of Ancient Greek legend and myth. He battled many monstrous opponents and some of his old adversaries share the sky with him. These include the hydra, the poisonous many-headed snake, which is the largest constellation in the sky, and the Nemean lion, symbolized by the constellation Leo.

Astronomy