About half a billion light years from Earth in the constellation Hercules, seven and one-half degrees from star Beta Hercules below the southwest corner of the "keystone" asterism lies the "Hercules Galaxy Cluster." This association is a group of 200-300 distant galaxies, the brightest of which is NGC 6050 at about 10th magnitude and can be seen with an 8" reflector under very dark skies with good seeing conditions.
A larger aperture, 14"-16" telescope will begin to show about a half-dozen or more galaxies in one field-of-view. How many can you see in your telescope? The chart below shows the galaxy field down to 16th magnitude, within the reach of an 18" telescope in dark skies.
Centered on NGC 6050, the field of view is about four and one half degrees, with two 5th magnitude stars as your guide: 7-Kappa Herculis at lower left with the two arcing dimmer stars, and 5 Herculis alone at upper right. Once observed you'll be humming "Galaxy Fields Forever."
All objects described above can easily be seen with the suggested equipment from a dark sky site, a viewing location some distance away from city lights where light pollution and when bright moonlight does not overpower the stars.
