HERCULES - The Grand Tour

[Tropo-Bob]

Below are the subjects in Hercules that I wish to view:-

The Main Stars:

Alpha Herculis. (Rasalgethi). This is a fine double star of contrasting colours. The primary is a variable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Herculis

Beta Herculis. (Kornephoros). A yellow giant, which is a spectosopic binary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Herculis

Gamma Herculis, another spectosopic binary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_Herculis

Delta Herculis. Double stars for small telescopes calls this a showcase pair. I look forward to seeing it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Herculis

Epsilon Herculis. A multiple star system, but the components are not visible to amatuer scopes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Herculis



Objects of interest:

NGC 6210. A relatively bright planetary nebula, at Mag 8.8.
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1026a/

NGC 6229. The third globular in Hercules. I was wondering if I will see this, but feel much easier after reading the cloudynights thread.
http://www.capella-observatory.com/ImageHTMLs/GlobularClusters/NGC6229.htm
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/610849-ngc-6229-%E2%80%93-globular-cluster-in-hercules/

Rho Herculis. Double stars for small telescopes also calls this a showcase pair.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rho_Herculis

95 Herculis. Again, Double stars for small telescopes calls this a showcase pair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig50oBWhu1I

Zeta Herculis. A fast moving binary (34 years) that is only 35 light years away. Luckly for me, it is approaching it widest seperation (see first website for a diagram), though it still may be a difficult one to split.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Zeta+herculis&safe=off&rlz=1C1OKWM_enAU786AU787&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=d6t26Z5EqN022M%253A%252C3P_fxQd QiLON2M%252C_&usg=__MCGOwjucnTpx7SIp5E-oO9Eq0tk%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj13oiW8uPaAhUokVQKHZ_PAJ wQ9QEISTAG#imgrc=d6t26Z5EqN022M:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeta_Herculis



There are two Messier objects in Hercules; they being the well known globulars M13 & M92.

[Tropo-Bob]

Last night, I viewed these object in Hercules. I was up late to see the faint globular without moonlight, but all the other targets were viewed under a six-day old Moon. I used my Tak 100 (F7.4).

Objects of interest:

NGC 6210. A relatively bright planetary nebula, at Mag 8.8.
This was a small planetary that featured the typical aqua-blue hue. It looked like a blurry star at 30x, but even then, its colour was seen. I liked the view best with 50x.

NGC 6229. The third globular in Hercules.
This globular might be visible under moonlight, however I could not find the guide stars that I needed to hop to this unfamiliar object. This is a faint, small, but visually rewarding object. Using only 23x, it looked like a hairy star. Using 30x, it appeared as a globular with a star like centre. However, as I increased the magnification, the centre looked more broad and completely lost any semblance of being condensed. Thus, it was best viewed with a variety of magnifications.

Rho Herculis. Double stars for small telescopes also calls this a showcase pair.
Rho was split cleanly using 74x, which left the stars appearing very close and to about one magnitude different in brightness. I overlooked recording the colour, but from memory, they were white.

95 Herculis. Again, Double stars for small telescopes calls this a showcase pair.
A slightly uneven pair that was split with 30x, but was best viewed using 74x. I expected the colours to be similar, but I saw the primary as white and the secondary as light yellow.

Zeta Herculis. A fast moving binary (34 years) that is only 35 light years away. Luckily for me, it is approaching it widest separation.. . though it still may be a difficult one to split.
I could not split this using powers up to 148x. I first recorded Zeta's colour as being white, but changed it to a very light yellow.



The Main Stars:

Alpha Herculis. (Rasalgethi). This is a fine double star of contrasting colours.
This is a glorious orange star with a light blue companion, which was seen well using 74x. Last night, the brightness difference between the pair seemed to be the largest (about 2 mags) that I have ever noticed. The primary is variable, so I assume it was near maximum brightness.
Regarding the blue companion, it looked a deeper blue, not the blue-white that is often seen in bright stars.

Beta Herculis. (Kornephoros). A yellow giant...
Beta appeared to be of a medium-yellow hue.

Gamma Herculis, another spectosopic binary.
Gamma is white, but surprising had a wide companion star of about 9th Magnitude. It looked best using 30x. Higher powers made the gap be unappealingly wide.

Delta Herculis. Double stars for small telescopes calls this a showcase pair. I look forward to seeing it.
Delta appeared to be light yellow, with a wide, faint companion. The separation was much less that of Gamma's and I thought the companion also looked fainter. Nevertheless, it was a good sight using 50x, however, I thought it was disappointing after being described as a showcase pair.

Epsilon Herculis.
A white star that looked somewhat fainter than other stars in Hercules with lower designations.