The beautiful Dionysus set the Crown, which rolls beneath the back of the labour-spent Phantom as a monument to the deceased Ariadne, in this location as well. He has the toe of his right foot above the centre of the crooked Dragon's head. Now the Phantom, who toils on his knees, appears to be sitting with his knees bent, his hands stretched a fathom's length from each of his shoulders. Men simply refer to him as On His Knees or 'the Kneeler' even though no man can read that sign correctly or understand the purpose behind him. According to Aratus, it is as follows:Ī Phantom figure, resembling a man working hard at a task, is present there in its orbit. The constellation is not referred to as Hercules in the earliest Greek references. He further contends that the two Babylonian constellations of the Sitting and Standing Gods were combined to form Hercules' original moniker, the 'Kneeler' (see below). According to White, this figure was shown as a man with a serpent's body in place of legs, just as the similarly called 'Sitting Gods' (the serpent element now being represented on the Greek star map by the figure of Draco that Hercules crushes beneath his feet). Gavin White claims that the Babylonian constellation known as the 'Standing Gods' is warped into the Greek constellation of Hercules (.MESH). (Karttunen et al., 2013) This constellation contains the north pole of the supergalactic coordinate system, which is at right ascension 18h 55m 01s and declination +15° 42′ 32′′. Around right ascension 18h 00m and declination 30° 00′, this is situated within the Hercules constellation. The direction of the Sun's motion about the Local Standard of Rest is known as the solar apex. Hercules is best seen in mid-northern latitudes from mid-spring through early autumn, peaking around midnight on June 13.

The right ascension coordinates of these borders in the equatorial coordinate system, epoch 2000, range from 16h 00m 26.64s to 18h 57m 49.50s, while the declination coordinates range from +3.67° to +51.32°. (Russell 1922) A 32-segment polygon defines the official constellation bounds as established by Eugène Delporte in 1930.

The International Astronomical Union chose the three-letter abbreviation 'Her' for the constellation in 1922.

It is the fifth largest constellation among the 88, taking up 1225.1 square degrees or 2.970 percent of the night sky. IC434 & NGC2024 - Horsehead Nebula and the Flame Nebulaĭraco, Boötes, Corona Borealis, and Serpens Caput, in the east Ophiuchus, in the south Aquila, in the southwest and Sagitta, Vulpecula, and Lyra, in the west, all encircle Hercules.

Hercules son of zeus constellation