Hercules+-+Marvin+Munguia

Marvin Munguia Adkins Astronomy 010 May 5, 2015 Hercules The Constellation Hercules is named after perhaps the greatest hero in all mythology, the Roman hero Hercules, which was actually adapted from the Greek hero Heracles. Heracles was often associated with the Sumerian hero Gilgamesh and constellation can in fact be traced back to Sumerian times. In fact, the Greek constellation of Hercules is actually believed to be an altered version of the Babylonian constellation known as the "Standing Gods". It has been argued that this figure was depicted as a man with a serpent's body instead of legs. The constellation Draco that Hercules places his foot atop now represents the serpent element on the Greek star map. The original name of Hercules, the Kneeler, was supposedly given to him by Zeus when Hercules bent down on one knew to pray to his father. Many constellations were victims of Hercules’s strength. Leo, the Lion, Hydra, the nine-headed Serpent, Draco, the Dragon, and Cancer, the Crab all fell to Hercules and thus were placed in the sky. The Keystone asterism is formed by four bright stars in Hercules: Pi, Eta, Zeta, and Epsilon Herculis, creating a quadrangle. There are two widely used visualizations for the Hercules constellation, both of which use the Keystone asterism as a major portion of Hercules’s body. The traditional visualization uses the asterism as Hercules’s torso, with his left hand pointed toward Lyra from his shoulder, a narrow waist, and his left leg stepping on Draco's head, the dragon who Hercules has vanquished and will show off for eternity. The alternative visualization uses the Keystone as Hercules's head, while he is wearing the hide of a lion and holding a club and Cerberus, the three-headed dog with his foot resting on top of the head of Draco the dragon. The constellation can be found between the constellations Lyra and Bootes. Other neighboring constellations include Aquila, Corona Borealis, Draco, Ophiuchus, Sagitta, Serpens Caput and Vulpecula. It can be seen in the northern hemisphere from April to November and in the southern hemisphere between June and September, although it does appear upside down when viewed from the south. There are several interesting deep sky objects located in the Hercules constellation. The most notable of which is Messier 13, which is a globular star cluster. The star cluster is 145 light-years in diameter, contains several hundred thousand stars, and can easily be seen with a small telescope. Nearby is another Messier object, Messier 92, which is another star cluster. The constellation Hercules also contains an interesting planetary nebula, Abell 39, which appears as an almost perfect sphere with a radius spanning approximately 2.5 light-years. Also embedded within the constellation are several binary stars and a few variable stars. Hercules was included on the original list of constellations created by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy. Although Hercules is one of the largest constellations in the night sky, occupying an area of 1225 square degrees in the sky, it does not contain any bright stars, which is an interesting parallel with Hercules himself who was famous for his brawn but known for lacking wits.



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