Hercules constellation is located in the northern sky. It was named after Hercules, the Roman version of the Greek hero Heracles.
Heracles, in turn, was often associated with the Sumerian hero Gilgamesh, and the constellation itself has a long history, dating back to Sumerian times.
Hercules is the fifth largest constellation in the sky, but has no first magnitude stars. In traditional depictions, the star Ras Algethi (Alpha Herculis) represents Hercules’ head and a prominent asterism, the Keystone, marks his torso, as he stands victoriously on Draco’s head.
In mythology, the constellation Hercules is usually associated with the penultimate labour of Heracles, which involved killing the dragon Ladon, who guarded the garden of the Hesperides. The dragon is represented by the constellation Draco. Hercules constellation was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.
Notable deep sky objects in Hercules include the Great Globular Cluster (Messier 13), the globular cluster Messier 92, the planetary nebulae Abell 39 and NGC 6210, the Hercules Cluster of galaxies, and the galaxy cluster Abell 2199.
FACTS, LOCATION & MAP
Hercules is the fifth largest constellation. It occupies an area of 1225 square degrees in the sky. The constellation lies in the third quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ3) and can be seen at latitudes between +90° and -50°. The neighboring constellations are Aquila, Boötes, Corona Borealis, Draco, Lyra, Ophiuchus, Sagitta, Serpens Caput and Vulpecula.
Hercules belongs to the Hercules family of constellations, along with Aquila, Ara, Centaurus, Corona Australis, Corvus, Crater, Crux, Cygnus, Hydra, Lupus, Lyra, Ophiuchus, Sagitta, Scutum, Sextans, Serpens, Triangulum Australe and Vulpecula.
Hercules contains two Messier objects – Messier 13 (M13, NGC 6205) and Messier 92 (M92, NGC 6341) – and has 12 stars with known planets. The brightest star in the constellation is Kornephoros, Beta Herculis, with an apparent magnitude of 2.81. The Tau Herculids are the only meteor shower associated with the constellation.
MYTH
Hercules constellation dates back to ancient times. Its origin was unclear even to the Greeks. They knew it as Engonasin, or “the kneeling one.” It was Eratosthenes who identified the kneeler as Heracles, standing over the dragon that guarded the garden of the Hesperides.
Aeschylus associated the constellation with a different tale, describing Heracles as kneeling and exhausted after the battle with the Ligurians.
Heracles was the son of Zeus and Alcmene, a mortal woman. When he was an infant, Zeus laid him at Hera’s breast while she slept. Having suckled her milk, Heracles became immortal. Hera was enraged, both at this and at her husband’s infidelity, and while she could not kill Heracles, she made his life difficult at every turn. She cast a spell that made him go insane and kill his children. Once he regained his senses and realized what he had done, he visited the Oracle at Delphi to see how he could atone for his deed. The Oracle sent him to serve Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, for a period of 12 years. It was then that he got the name Heracles, which means “the glory of Hera.” His given name at birth was Alcides, Alcaeus, or Palaemon according to different sources.
King Eurystheus gave Heracles a series of tasks, known as the Labours of Heracles. The first was to kill the Nemean lion, a beast whose hide was impervious to any weapon. After Heracles had strangled the lion to death, he used its claws to cut off the skin and later used the pelt as a cloak and the gaping mouth as a helmet, which both protected him and made him look even more frightening. The Nemean lion is represented by the constellation Leo.
The second task was to destroy the Hydra, represented by Hydra constellation, a monster with multiple heads. As he fought with the beast, Hera sent a crab to distract him. Heracles killed the crab, and Hera placed it in the sky as the constellation Cancer.
Heracles was then sent to catch a deer with golden horns and, after that, a ferocious boar. The fifth task was to clean the stables of King Augeias of Elis. The sixth was to kill a flock of marauding birds, and the seventh, to catch a bull that breathed fire and was ravaging the land on Crete. The eighth labour was to bring the horses of King Diomedes of Thrace, which ate flesh, to Eurystheus. The ninth was to bring the king the belt of Hippolyte, the queen of the Amazons. The tenth labour was to steal the cattle of Geryon, a monster that lived on the island of Erytheia. On his way back, he was attacked by local forces that outnumbered and nearly overcame him. He sank to his knees and prayed to Zeus. The god helped him by sending rocks, which Heracles threw at his attackers. This is the event that, according to Aeschylus, was commemorated by the constellation Engonasin (the kneeler).
Even though Eurystheus and Heracles had originally agreed on ten tasks, when Heracles came back, the king refused to release him from his service and set two additional tasks. The first was to steal the golden apples from Hera’s garden on Mount Atlas. The garden was guarded by the Hesperides, daughters of the titan Atlas, and the Hesperides were guarded by the dragon Ladon, whose task was to make sure that they did not steal any of the apples. The dragon is represented by the constellation Draco. Hera herself placed the dragon in the sky after Heracles had killed it.
The final labour was the most difficult one. Heracles was sent to the gates of the Underworld to fetch Cerberus, the dog that had three heads and was tasked with guarding the entrance and making sure those who had crossed the river Styx did not try to escape. Heracles used his pelt to protect himself and dragged the dog to Eurystheus. The king, who had not expected to see Heracles again, had no choice but to release him.
After completing the twelve labours, Heracles married Deianeira, daughter of King Oeneus. While the two were travelling together, they came to the river Evenus where the centaur Nessus ferried people across. Heracles swam across the river, but Deianeira needed to be carried and Nessus, who offered to do it, fell in lust with her and tried to ravage her. Heracles shot the centaur with an arrow that was tipped in the Hydra’s poison. As he lay dying, Nessus offered Deianeira some of his blood, saying it can act as a love charm. Deianeira kept the blood, poisoned by Heracles’ arrow. Much later, she became worried that Heracles’ attention was wandering to another woman and she gave him a shirt on which she had smeared Nessus’ blood. When Heracles put it on, Hydra’s poison started burning his flesh and, once he realized what was going on, he built himself a funeral pyre on Mount Oeta and lay on his pelt, ready to die. The fire burned the part of him that was mortal, and the immortal part joined Zeus and the other gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus placed Heracles in the sky as the constellation now known by its Roman name, Hercules.
0 Comments