Every day, raising our eyes to the sky, we have the opportunity to observe one of the most beautiful creatures of nature - the stars. Since ancient times, stars have attracted people. Looking at these heavenly lights, our ancestors tried to explain their origin and looked for something earthly in them. Their imagination connected a cluster of stars and drew a variety of earthly objects, animals and heroes. So the names of various constellations appeared - Libra, Cassiopeia, Cancer, Leo and so on. On a hot June night, looking up, we can observe how the ancient hero Hercules knelt down. This constellation is impossible not to recognize.
Location in the firmament
Hercules is a constellation that we can see in spring and summer. In June, it is located almost at the highest point of the celestial sphere. Its neighboring clusters of stars are Bootes and Lyra. It is easy to recognize Hercules by its central part - a trapezoid, which is formed by four stars. This part of the figure is most often called the torso of a great hero. All inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere can observe this constellation, in the Southern it is only partially visible. This combination of heavenly lights occupies a fairly large area and includes abouttwo hundred stars that a person can observe without the help of any technology. Another feature of Hercules is that it contains the apex of our Sun. Apex is the point to which the velocity vector of our home star is directed.
Discovery history
Hercules is a constellation whose history goes back to ancient times. In the III century BC. e. the ancient Greek astronomer Arat completed his work en titled "Phenomena", in which he speaks of a figure that conveys the image of a suffering man on his knees. Therefore, the constellation Hercules was called Kneeling. The same name was indicated in the catalog of celestial bodies by Claudius Ptolemy, which was called "Almagest". But two centuries before that, the Greeks already knew about this constellation and called it Hercules, and the Romans - Hercules, the son of the great thunder god Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene.
Mythical origin of the name
Greek mythology tells us about the great hero Hercules, who was a demigod. During his life on Earth, he did many brave deeds. These include the salvation of people and the destruction of the terrible monsters that threatened everyone. The most striking legend about the adventures of this hero is the story of 12 exploits. He tells us that the stepmother of Hercules, the great goddess Hera, did not love him very much. Because of her, he committed a great sin and had to atone for it by serving Eurystheus. He tried to entrust Hercules with impossible tasks, and the hero passed and endured everything with honor. At the end of Hercules' life, the gods decided that he was worthy to becomeone of them. So another constellation appeared in the heavens, which is still in its place.
The brightest star
Hercules is a constellation whose brightest star is Cornephoros, or β Her. On the scale of stellar brightness, it has an indicator of 2.8 magnitudes. In fact, this is not one, but two stars gravitationally bound together. Its name is translated from ancient Greek as the bearer of the club. The brightness of this star is 175 times greater than the brightness of the Sun. The distance between Cornephoros and Earth is 148 light years. Another sign of the Hercules beta is that it has a visual companion. It is invisible to the human eye and only spectroscopic analysis tells us of its existence.
The biggest star
The largest known star in the constellation Hercules is the star UW Her. It is located on the northeastern peak of the so-called torso of Hercules or the Cornerstone. The closest to it is π Her. UW Her is a variable star with a long period of 100 days. During this time, it can change its brightness by 0.9 magnitudes (8.6-9.5).
Alpha Hercules
Hercules is a constellation whose main luminary is Ras-Algeti, or α Her. It has 3.1-3.9 magnitudes. This difference is due to the fact that it tends to change its brilliance in a period of 90 days. In terms of brightness, alpha ranks second after Cornephoros. She is triple andconsists of a red supergiant and a smaller star, which is also divided into a white-yellow dwarf and a yellow giant. Ras-Algeti from Arabic means "the head of the kneeling", as it is located in the head of Hercules. The distance from the Sun to this star is 380 light years.
Pearl of Hercules
In Hercules there is a cluster of stars that strikes with its beauty. It is the decoration of the entire Northern Hemisphere. This is the so-called M13, or the Great Globular Cluster of Hercules. It was discovered in 1714 by E. Halley. It was located in the west of the Cornerstone, between η and ζ Her. To see this miracle of nature, any instrument will do, whether it be binoculars or a small telescope, and if you're lucky, you can see it without instruments at all.
M13 has the shape of a ball, it is unusually bright. From the center to the edges, the light of the cluster gradually dims. As mentioned above, you can watch it with anything, but the better the quality of the instrument, the more you can see. It has in its composition a couple of hundred thousand stars. The distance from M13 to Earth is 25 thousand light years. Under a detailed examination of the cluster, one can notice the so-called Propeller region, which does not have a single star. Scientists have not yet been able to figure out how this formation arose, and its nature remains unsolved.
Messier 92
The constellation Hercules is fraught with many surprising and mysterious things. The stars in it are amazing and many-sided. For example, the second, at leastan interesting globular cluster M92, or Messier 92. Its discoverer was E. Bode, who in 1777 drew attention to it. But in 1781, not knowing about the first discovery, as happened in those days, it was rediscovered by C. Messier. He also cataloged the M92, and it is named after him. The distance from the Earth to M92 is 26 thousand light years. Under favorable conditions, it can be seen with the naked eye. Smaller than M13, this cluster is also a gem of the Northern Hemisphere and Hercules.
NGC 6229
If you look from M92 in the Northwest direction, you can stumble upon another cluster of stars NGC 6229, the second designation is GCL 47. It can also be observed by anyone with a simple technique. This globular cluster was discovered by W. Herschel in 1787. Its apparent magnitude is 9.4 magnitudes. The original edition of the New General Catalog contains data on NGC 6229.
Turtle Nebula
The planetary nebula "Turtle", or NGC 6210, is located in the northeastern part of Hercules. V. Ya. Struve discovered it in 1825. It is located at a distance of 6.5 thousand light years from us. To see the beauty of this object, you need a telescope. Through its glass, an extraordinary beauty and play of greenish-blue color opens up to a person. On the scale of stellar magnitudes, "Turtle" has an indicator of 8.8 magnitudes. Interestingly, this nebula contains very little of the nebular gas that is common to such celestial objects. The center of NGC 6210 is a star, it also formed it.
Thus, people from ancient times knew about the accumulation of stars in the sky, and often they were called differently than they are now. If you ask how the constellation Hercules used to be called, the documents found will show that its former name is Kneeling. This hero was ex alted in the eyes of a common man, for which he was elevated to the pantheon of gods. Modern scientists are also closely studying this bewitching constellation. They learned a lot of interesting things, for example, that the largest star in the constellation Hercules is UW Her. But it is not only she who is the object of admiration in this cluster, which makes us look far into the heavenly heights again and again.
