Hercules Constellation

constellation · mythology · stargazing · ancient

Named after a hero. Hercules gets its name from the Roman version of a legendary Greek hero called Heracles, who was famous for being incredibly strong and brave. The ancient Romans loved this hero so much they named a whole constellation after him.

Seriously huge constellation. Hercules is the fifth-largest constellation out of all 88 constellations we can see in the night sky. That makes it absolutely massive, even though it doesn't have any super-bright stars compared to other constellations.

One of the oldest. Hercules was one of the original 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, an ancient astronomer from about 2,000 years ago. It's still recognized today as one of the modern 88 official constellations we use.

No super bright stars. Hercules is actually the largest constellation that doesn't contain any stars brighter than a certain level of brightness. This means you have to look carefully to spot it, but it's definitely out there if you know where to look.