For those in the northern hemisphere, June is the perfect time to track down the constellation of Hercules, the son of Zeus and the hero of Roman mythology. It sits high in the southern sky at this time of year and can be readily identified by the central four stars that make up a keystone shape.
The chart shows the view looking south at midnight on 13 June, although the constellation will be readily visible all month. The constellation has no really bright stars but is home to one of the most attractive globular star clusters in the northern hemisphere. The Great Star Cluster in Hercules is catalogued as M13. It is just visible to the naked eye but only to those who live in truly rural conditions devoid of light pollution.
For the rest of us a pair of binoculars will usually do the trick. Sweep your gaze along the line between the two western-most stars in the keystone, and the fuzzy blob of M13 will appear. It contains about 300,000 and sits at the boundary of the Milky Way, 25,000 light years away. From the southern hemisphere, the constellation will appear low in the northern sky around midnight, and it will be the other way up.
