Messier 92 is a fine globular cluster that lies among the stars of northern Hercules, making it superbly placed in the summer sky for observers at mid-northern latitudes. It can be easily snared through a humble pair of 10 × 50 binoculars and a small telescope can begin to resolve the more outlying stars in its blazing mass of tightly packed suns. M92 probably doesn’t get the plaudits it deserves owing to the closeness of mighty M13, the finest of all globular clusters north of the celestial equator, which lies within Hercules’ familiar ‘Keystone’ asterism of third- to fourth-magnitude stars just under 10 degrees to the south-west. How to observe Hercules is a large constellation but suffers from a lack of any really bright stars. Brilliant Vega in neighbouring Lyra, can be used as a pathfinder, as it lies around 20 degrees east-north-east of Hercules’ Keystone (your fist held at arm’s length measures roughly ten degrees across your knuckles). On early July nights, Hercules is just starting to cross the southern meridian as darkness descends at around 11pm BST. Shining at magnitude +6.4, M92 (NGC 6341) is out of naked-eye range for us in the UK, but it’s easy to