Draco (constellation)

Look at the stars in the north.

You can see a dragon. Its name means dragon. It stays in the sky all year. You can see it any time.

One star is called Thuban. It was a pole star long ago. This means it sat above the north pole. The pyramids in Egypt were made to face it.

Some stars in the dragon are very bright. One star is called Eltanin. It is an orange star. It is far away from Earth.

There are also far away groups of stars. One is called a galaxy. You can see a tiny one called a dwarf galaxy.

Sometimes you can see shooting stars. These happen in October. They come from a comet. They are fun to watch.

Look up at the far northern sky. You might see a dragon. Its name, Draco, is Latin for dragon.

Draco stays in the sky all year. It is circumpolar, which means it never sets. You can see it any time of year from the north.

One star is named Thuban. It was a pole star long ago. This means it sat above the north pole. The Egyptian Pyramids were built to face it. Thuban is a blue-white giant star. It is 309 light-years from Earth.

The brightest star in Draco is Eltanin. It is an orange giant star. Nearby is a yellow star called Rastaban.

Draco also has many far-off objects. You can find the Cat's Eye Nebula. This is a planetary nebula, which is a cloud of gas. It is 3,000 light-years away.

There are also tiny galaxies. One is the Draco Dwarf Galaxy.

Sometimes, you can see meteor showers. In October, the Draconids appear. These meteors come from a comet. In 1933, there were 10,000 meteors in one hour!

In old stories, Draco was a dragon. Some say it was Ladon. Ladon guarded golden apples. The goddess Athena tossed the dragon into the sky.

Look toward the far northern sky to find the constellation Draco. Its name comes from the Latin word for dragon.

This group of stars is one of the 88 modern constellations. It was also listed by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. For people living in northern parts of the world, Draco is circumpolar. This means it never sets below the horizon. You can see it at any time of the year. It stays visible as the Earth turns.

Many interesting stars live within this dragon shape. One star is named Thuban, or Alpha Draconis. It is a blue-white giant star located 309 light-years away. Long ago, Thuban was the north pole star. It held that spot from 3942 BC until 1793 BC. Even the ancient Egyptian Pyramids were built to align with it. The brightest star in Draco is Gamma Draconis, also called Eltanin. It is an orange giant star. Nearby is Rastaban, which is a yellow giant star.

Draco is also home to many far-off objects in space. You can find the Cat's Eye Nebula, which is a planetary nebula. An English astronomer named William Herschel discovered it in 1786. It is about 3,000 light-years away.

There are also very distant galaxies here. One is the massive Abell 2218 cluster. It is 3 billion light-years away. This cluster acts like a lens for light. It helps scientists study even more distant galaxies. You can even find the tiny Draco Dwarf Galaxy.

Albert G. Wilson found it in 1954.

Sometimes, the sky in Draco fills with falling stars. The October Draconids is a meteor shower. These meteors come from the comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. In 1933 and 1946, there were huge meteor storms. During those years, there were up to 10,000 meteors every hour! There is also a newer shower called the February Eta Draconids. It was discovered on February 4, 2011. These meteors come from a different, long-period comet. It is exciting to watch these lights streak across the dark sky.

Many old stories explain why the dragon is in the sky. Greek myths say Draco was a dragon named Ladon. Ladon guarded golden apples in a special garden. The hero Heracles killed the dragon during his labors. Then, the goddess Hera turned the dragon into stars. Other stories say the dragon was a giant named Typhon. In Arabic astronomy, the stars look like camels instead. They see a mother camel and her babies. People use the stars to tell many different tales.

Draco is a prominent constellation located in the far northern sky. Its name is derived from the Latin word for dragon.

This constellation is one of the 88 modern constellations recognized by astronomers today. It was also included in the 48 constellations listed by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. For observers in northern latitudes, Draco is circumpolar. This means it never sets below the horizon and remains visible at any time of the year. The north pole of the ecliptic, which is the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun, is located within Draco.

The constellation contains several significant stars with unique histories. Thuban, or Alpha Draconis, is a blue-white giant star located 309 light-years from Earth. Its name means "head of the serpent." Between 3942 BC and 1793 BC, Thuban served as the northern pole star. Because of this, the ancient Egyptian Pyramids were designed with entrance passages aligned to make Thuban visible at night. Due to the effects of precession, which is the slow change in the orientation of Earth's axis, Thuban will become the pole star again around the year AD 21000.

Other bright stars define the shape of the dragon. The brightest star in the constellation is Gamma Draconis, also known as Etamin or Eltanin. It is an orange giant star with a magnitude of 2.2, located 148 light-years away. In 1728, James Bradley observed this star while discovering the aberration of starlight. Nearby is Beta Draconis, or Rastaban, which is a yellow giant star with a magnitude of 2.8. Like Thuban, its name also shares a meaning related to the "head of the serpent." Draco is also filled with complex star systems, including binary stars where two stars orbit one another. For example, Mu Draconis is a binary system of two white components that orbit each other every 670 years.

Deep-sky objects in Draco offer a glimpse into the distant universe. The Cat's Eye Nebula, or NGC 6543, is a planetary nebula located about 3,000 light-years away. English astronomer William Herschel discovered it in 1786. The nebula has a complex shape caused by gravitational interactions between the multiple stars at its center.

Draco also contains the Draco Dwarf Galaxy, which was discovered by Albert G. Wilson in 1954. This is one of the least luminous galaxies, with a diameter of only about 3,500 light-years. Even more distant is the massive Abell 2218 galaxy cluster. Located 3 billion light-years away, this cluster acts as a gravitational lens. This means its mass bends light from even more distant background galaxies, allowing astronomers to study them.

Extreme distances can be found within this region as well. The Tadpole Galaxy, or Arp 188, is an interacting galaxy located 420 million light-years away. It features a "tail" of stars that stretches for 280,000 light-years. This tail appears blue because gravitational interactions disturbed gas clouds and sparked the formation of new stars. Even further is the quasar Q1634+706. It is 12.9 billion light-years away and is the most distant object usually visible in an amateur telescope. The light from this quasar has taken 8.6 billion years to reach Earth due to the expansion of the universe. Draco even contains a part of the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall, which may be the largest known structure in the universe.

Meteor showers also pass through the area of Draco. The October Draconids, also called Giacobinids, are associated with the comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. This shower experienced massive storms in 1933 and 1946, with rates reaching 10,000 meteors per hour. A newer shower, the February Eta Draconids, was discovered on February 4, 2011. This shower is caused by a previously unknown long-period comet.

Many cultures have used these stars to tell different stories. In Greek mythology, Draco was often identified as Ladon, the dragon that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides. After the hero Heracles killed Ladon, the goddess Hera transformed the dragon into a constellation. Traditional Arabic astronomy tells a different tale. Instead of a dragon, these observers saw the "Mother Camels." They depicted two hyenas attacking a baby camel, which is protected by four female camels. These different perspectives show how the same stars can represent many different ideas across human history.