Name a Star in the Draco Constellation

Draco is a Northern Circumpolar constellation that is viewable year-round from throughout the northern hemisphere. Its name, Draco, means “Dragon” and Draco is depicted as a dragon intersecting the sky between Ursa Minor and the constellations Ursa Major, Boötes, and Hercules.   The Nearest constellations to Draco are Boötes, Camelopardalis, Cepheus, Cygnus, Hercules, Lyra, Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor. 

Some of the celebrities and dignitaries with stars named in the Draco constellation include: James Gandolfini, Jackie Chan, Conan OBrien, Donald Trump, and Joan Rivers. Click here for more information. 

Symbol: Dra 

Right Ascension: 05:15 

Declination: 65 

Diameter (°): 30 

Area (square °): 1083 

Opposition: Jun 10 

Size Rank: 8th 

Brightness Rank: 25th 

Genitive: Draconis 

Major or notable stars in Draco 

Eltanin – γ Draconis (Gamma Draconis) 

Aldibain – η Draconis (Eta Draconis) 

Rastaban – β Draconis (Beta Draconis) 

Altais – δ Draconis (Delta Draconis) 

Aldhibah – ζ Draconis (Zeta Draconis) 

Edasich – ι Draconis (Iota Draconis) 

Batentaban Borealis – χ Draconis (Chi Draconis) 

Batentaban Australis – φ Draconis (Phi Draconis) 

Thuban – α Draconis (Alpha Draconis) 

Grumium – ξ Draconis (Xi Draconis) 

Gianfar (Giausar) – λ Draconis (Lambda Draconis) 

Tyl – ε Draconis (Epsilon Draconis) 

Shǎowèi – κ Draconis (Kappa Draconis) 

θ Draconis (Theta Draconis) 

ο Draconis (Omicron Draconis) 

Alsafi – σ Draconis (Sigma Draconis) 

42 Draconis 

Kuma – ν Draconis (Nu Draconis) 

Arrakis – μ Draconis (Mu Draconis) 

26 Draconis 

BY Draconis 

Struve 2398 – HD 173739/HD 173740 (Gliese 725) 

Kepler-10 

GD 356 

Deep Sky Objects in Draco   

Cat’s Eye Nebula – NGC 6543 (Caldwell 6)  

Spindle Galaxy – Messier 102 – NGC 5866 

Draco Dwarf Galaxy 

Abell 2218 

Tadpole Galaxy – Arp 188 

Q1634+706 

NGC 6340 

NGC 5879 

NGC 4319 and Markarian 205 

NGC 4236 

NGC 6503 

NGC 5949 

PGC 39058 

Mythology of the Constellation Draco 

Represented by the head of a monster under Hercules’ foot. A coil reaches down to the girdle of Cepheus, then loops below Hercules to form a second coil passing down again between the heads of the Lesser and Greater Bears. The windings of this elusive constellation are symbolic of the oblique course of the stars. Draco winds around the pole of the world, as if to indicate in the symbolic language of Egyptian astronomy the motion of the pole of the equator around the pole of the ecliptic. The Egyptian hieroglyph for the heavens was a serpent whose scales denoted the stars. When astronomy first began to be cultivated in Chaldea, Draco was the polar constellation. 

Mythologists sometimes represent Draco as the watchful dragon which guarded the golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides near Mount Atlas in Africa. The apples belonged to Juno and were the twelfth labor of Hercules. Juno took Draco up to heaven and made a constellation of him as a reward for his faithful services. Others say that in the war with the giants, this dragon fought Minerva, who grabbed the snake and hurled its twisted body into the heavens around the axis of the world before it had time to unwind. It sleeps there to this day as Draco. 

Another ancient version of Draco says that this is the dragon which Cadmus, brother of Europa, killed when Cadmus was ordered by his father to go find his sister after Jupiter had carried her away; he was told not to come back without Europa. When his search proved fruitless, he consulted the oracle of Apollo who told him to build a city where he saw a heifer stop in the grass. He was to call the city Thebes. In good time Cadmus saw the heifer. Wishing to thank the god with a sacrifice, he sent his companions to fetch water from a neighboring grove. As luck would have it, the waters were sacred to Mars and were guarded by a fierce dragon who decided on the spot to have dinner. When his companions didn’t come back, Cadmus grew tired of waiting and went to look for them just as the dragon was licking his chops over the last of the bones. Cadmus swore either to get revenge or to die trying. He attacked the monster and, with the help of Minerva, killed him.  Then he plucked out the dragon’s teeth and sowed them in a plain as Athena had told him to do. Suddenly, the teeth sprang up and became armed men, startling our hero. Just as Cadmus was about to beat a hasty retreat, the men started fighting among themselves. All but five were killed. Those remaining five helped Cadmus build the promised city.