The figure in the sky: north is up, east is to the left. Larger dots are brighter stars.

Constellation

Hercules

The shape: a square (the “Keystone”) with arms and legs.

Hercules, the strongest of all heroes, had to complete twelve difficult labours. In the sky he kneels upside down. On one side of his square lies the globular cluster M13 with around 300,000 stars – a small misty patch in binoculars.

The stars of the figure

From bright to faint. Brightness is given in magnitudes (mag): the smaller the number, the brighter the star.

Kornephoros · 2.77 mag
ZetaHer · 2.81 mag
Rasalgethi · 3.1 mag
PiHer · 3.16 mag
EtaHer · 3.48 mag
EpsHer · 3.92 mag

In the 3D model

In the 3D model, under “Explore”, the sky dome shows when the constellation Hercules can be seen above Switzerland. “Constellations in 3D” shows how far apart its stars really are.

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