Constellation
Hercules
The hero Heracles, drawn kneeling with one foot on the head of the dragon. To the earliest Greeks he was simply the Kneeler, a figure whose identity was unknown.
From New York on October 13, 2026, the centre of Hercules rises at 8:43 AM, is highest at 4:49 PM (79° above the horizon in the S) and sets at 12:51 AM.
In the 3D sky
The sky over New York turned towards Hercules. Drag to look around.
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Evening visibility over the year
Height of the constellation’s centre above the horizon at 10 pm local time on the 15th of each month, from New York. Above about 30° it is well placed.
Name and history
The poet Aratus, writing in the third century BC, described a weary figure on one knee, with a foot on the head of the dragon Draco. He said no one knew who he was or what he laboured at. The Greeks called him Engonasin, the Kneeler. A century later Eratosthenes identified him as Heracles, the Roman Hercules, the greatest of the Greek heroes, triumphing over the dragon Ladon that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides. The playwright Aeschylus, quoted by Hyginus, said instead that Heracles knelt wounded and exhausted during a battle with the Ligurians.
Its star Rasalgethi comes from an Arabic phrase for the kneeler’s head. Four stars form a shape called the Keystone, which outlines the hero’s hips. On one side of it lies the great globular cluster M13. Edmond Halley came upon it by chance in 1714 and wrote that it shows itself to the naked eye when the sky is clear and the Moon absent.
Sources: Ian Ridpath, Star Tales: Hercules, Ian Ridpath, Star Tales: Hercules, part 2
Brightest stars
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kornephoros | β Her | 2.78 | 139 light-years |
| Rasalgethi | α1 Her | 2.78 | 360 light-years |
| Tianji | ζ Her | 2.81 | 35 light-years |
| Sarin | δ Her | 3.12 | 75 light-years |
| Nuchuang | π Her | 3.16 | 377 light-years |
| μ Her | μ Her | 3.42 | 27 light-years |
| η Her | η Her | 3.48 | 109 light-years |
| ξ Her | ξ Her | 3.70 | 137 light-years |
| γ Her | γ Her | 3.74 | 193 light-years |
| ι Her | ι Her | 3.82 | 455 light-years |
Facts
| Area | about 1,229 square degrees (5 of 88) |
|---|---|
| IAU abbreviation | Her |
| Sky | Northern sky |
| Origin | Listed in Ptolemy’s Almagest, about AD 150, and known earlier to Aratus as the Kneeler |
| Stars brighter than magnitude 5 | 42 |
| Centre (J2000) | 17.4 h, 30° |
Deep-sky objects
Galaxies, clusters and nebulae brighter than magnitude 9, from the OpenNGC catalogue. Most need binoculars or a telescope and a dark sky.
Boundaries: International Astronomical Union, via Astronomy Engine. Areas are computed from the boundaries by sampling (within about one percent). Names and lines: Stellarium. Stars: HYG Database. Deep-sky objects: OpenNGC. Calculated with Astronomy Engine, an open-source library verified against the US Naval Observatory and NASA JPL. Data sources
How to use this page
Choose your place and a night at the top. The answer and the 3D view show where the constellation is, when it is highest and whether it rises at all from where you are. The chart shows its stars and lines, and the tables list its brightest stars and the deep-sky objects inside it.
Frequently asked questions
When is a constellation best seen?
When it is highest in a dark sky, which the page gives for the night you pick. Each constellation is best placed in a particular season, because the stars rise about four minutes earlier every night.
Why can I not see a constellation from my place?
Constellations far south of the celestial equator never rise from northern places, and those far north never rise from southern ones. The page says when this is the case.
What are the constellation boundaries?
The International Astronomical Union divides the sky into 88 areas with official boundaries. The stick figures are only a drawing aid, the boundaries say which constellation a point in the sky belongs to.
Related guides
- How to learn the constellationsStart with one bright pattern you cannot miss, use it as a signpost to its neighbours, and come back a month later: the sky will have turned, and you will know a little more of it.
- Altitude and azimuth: finding things in the skyTwo angles tell you exactly where to look: which direction, and how high.
- Light pollution and dark skies: the Bortle scaleFrom a city centre you can count a few dozen stars. From a truly dark site you can count a few thousand, with the Milky Way bright enough to cast a shadow. The Bortle scale puts a number on the difference.
- Binoculars for stargazing: what to buy and what to look atA pair of 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars shows the craters of the Moon, the moons of Jupiter, dozens of star clusters and the Andromeda Galaxy, for a fraction of the cost of a telescope.