Saturday, July 27, 2024

Treasures of Hercules (overnight)

The constellation of Hercules is situated overhead during evenings in early July, ideal for exploring its treasures through a minimum of distorting atmosphere. The constellation's two most famous deep sky objects are the globular clusters Messier 13 and Messier 92. Messier 13, one of the easiest to see summer Messier objects, is visible in binoculars as a dim, fuzzy patch located two-thirds of the way up the western side of Hercules' keystone-shaped torso. A telescope will reveal its myriad of densely packed stars - appearing like salt spilled on a black cloth. A large-aperture telescope might reveal
the spiral galaxy NGC 6207 sitting just 0.5 degrees north of the cluster. Messier 92 is a slightly smaller and dimmer globular cluster located between the hero's knees. NGC6229 is a third, dimmer globular cluster located in northern Hercules. The 9.65 magnitude planetary nebula NGC 6210 is located
7.75 degrees directly south of Zeta Herculis.

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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