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Draco (constellation)
 
 
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Draco is a constellation
Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
 in the far northern sky. Its name is Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 for dragon
Dragon

File:Ukiyo-e dragon 2.jpgThe dragon is a legendary creature with serpentine shape or otherwise reptilian traits that features in the mythology of many cultures....
. Draco is circumpolar
Circumpolar star

A circumpolar star is a star that, as viewed from a given latitude on Earth, never sets , due to its proximity to one of the celestial poles. Circumpolar stars are therefore visible for the entire night on every night of the year ....
 (that is, never setting) for many observers in the northern hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere

The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half sphere'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator....
. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer
Astronomer

An astronomer is a scientist who studies Celestial body such as planets, stars, and Galaxy.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using physical laws....
 Ptolemy
Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman Greek mathematics, Greek astronomy, geographer and astrologer. He lived in History of Roman Egypt, and was probably born there in a town in the Thebaid called Ptolemais Hermiou; he died in Alexandria around 168 AD....
, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations today.

nin (Gamma Draconis) is the brightest star in Draco, with an apparent visual magnitude of 2.24.

One of the deep-sky objects in Draco is the Cat's Eye Nebula
Cat's Eye Nebula

The Cat's Eye Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Draco . Structurally, it is one of the most complex nebulae known, with high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope observations revealing remarkable structures such as knots, jets and sinewy arc-like features....
 (NGC 6543), a planetary nebula
Planetary nebula

A planetary nebula is an emission nebula consisting of a glowing shell of gas and Plasma formed by certain types of stars when they die. The name originated in the 18th century because of their similarity in appearance to gas giants when viewed through small optical telescopes, and is unrelated to the planets of the solar system....
 that is said to look like a blue disc.






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Draco is a constellation
Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
 in the far northern sky. Its name is Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 for dragon
Dragon

File:Ukiyo-e dragon 2.jpgThe dragon is a legendary creature with serpentine shape or otherwise reptilian traits that features in the mythology of many cultures....
. Draco is circumpolar
Circumpolar star

A circumpolar star is a star that, as viewed from a given latitude on Earth, never sets , due to its proximity to one of the celestial poles. Circumpolar stars are therefore visible for the entire night on every night of the year ....
 (that is, never setting) for many observers in the northern hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere

The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half sphere'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator....
. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer
Astronomer

An astronomer is a scientist who studies Celestial body such as planets, stars, and Galaxy.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using physical laws....
 Ptolemy
Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman Greek mathematics, Greek astronomy, geographer and astrologer. He lived in History of Roman Egypt, and was probably born there in a town in the Thebaid called Ptolemais Hermiou; he died in Alexandria around 168 AD....
, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations today.

Notable features

Eltanin (Gamma Draconis) is the brightest star in Draco, with an apparent visual magnitude of 2.24.

One of the deep-sky objects in Draco is the Cat's Eye Nebula
Cat's Eye Nebula

The Cat's Eye Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Draco . Structurally, it is one of the most complex nebulae known, with high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope observations revealing remarkable structures such as knots, jets and sinewy arc-like features....
 (NGC 6543), a planetary nebula
Planetary nebula

A planetary nebula is an emission nebula consisting of a glowing shell of gas and Plasma formed by certain types of stars when they die. The name originated in the 18th century because of their similarity in appearance to gas giants when viewed through small optical telescopes, and is unrelated to the planets of the solar system....
 that is said to look like a blue disc. There are several faint galaxies
Galaxy

A galaxy is a massive, gravitation system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and cosmic dust, and an important but poorly-understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter....
 in Draco, one of which is the lenticular galaxy
Lenticular galaxy

File:File-Ngc5866 hst big.pngA lenticular galaxy is a type of galaxy which is intermediate between an elliptical galaxy and a spiral galaxy in galaxy morphological classification schemes....
 NGC 5866
NGC 5866

NGC 5866 is a relatively bright lenticular galaxy in the constellation Draco . Some astronomers believe that the NGC 5866 may be a candidate for Messier 102....
, sometimes considered to be Messier Object 102. Another is the Draco Dwarf Galaxy, one of the least luminous galaxies with an absolute magnitude
Absolute magnitude

In astronomy, absolute magnitude measures a celestial object's intrinsic brightness. To derive the absolute magnitude from the observed apparent magnitude of a celestial object its value is corrected for distance to the observer....
 of -8.6 and a diameter of only about 3,500 light years, discovered by Albert G. Wilson of Lowell Observatory
Lowell Observatory

Lowell Observatory is an astronomy observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Lowell Observatory is among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965....
 in 1954.

The star Thuban
Thuban

Thuban is a star in the constellation of Draco . A relatively inconspicuous star in the night sky of the Northern Hemisphere, it is historically significant as having been the north pole star in ancient times....
 (a Draconis) was the northern pole star around 2700 BC, during the time of the ancient Egyptians. Due to the effects of precession, it will once again be the pole star around the year 21000 AD.

Mythology


Draco is among the earliest of the constellations to have been defined; in one of the oldest known astronomical records, the ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
ians identified it as Tawaret
Tawaret

In Egyptian mythology, Taweret . Her name means who is great. When paired with another deity, she became the demon-wife of Apep, the original god of evil....
, the goddess of the northern sky in their pantheon of deities. Considered ever-vigilant because the constellation never set, she was depicted a fierce protective goddess whose body was a composite of crocodile, human, lioness, and hippopotamus parts.

The Greeks named it Draco the dragon. In one of the more famous European myths, Draco represents Ladon
Dragons in Greek mythology

Dragons play a role in Greek mythology....
, the hundred-headed dragon who guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides
Hesperides

In Greek mythology, the Hesperides are nymphs who tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the Atlas mountains in Ancient Libya, or on a distant blessed island at the edge of the encircling Oceanus....
. The eleventh of the Twelve Labours of Heracles
Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
 was to steal the golden apples. He put Ladon to sleep with music, which enabled Heracles to freely take the golden apples. According to the legend, Hera
Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
 later placed the dragon in the sky as the constellation Draco. Due to its position and nearby constellations in the zodiac
Zodiac

Zodiac denotes an annual cycle of twelve stations along the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the heavens through the constellations that divide the ecliptic into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude....
 sign of Libra
Libra (constellation)

Libra...
 (i.e. Ursa Major
Ursa Major

Ursa Major is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin. It is dominated by the widely recognized asterism known as the Big Dipper or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures....
, Ursa Minor
Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor is a constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for 'little bear', contrasting with Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 List of constellations....
, and Boötes
Boötes

Bo?tes Bo?tes was one of the 48 constellations described by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. It contains the List of brightest stars in the night sky, Arcturus....
), the group of constellations can be seen to tell the tale of the eleventh labour.

In another Greek legend, Draco represents the dragon
Dragon

File:Ukiyo-e dragon 2.jpgThe dragon is a legendary creature with serpentine shape or otherwise reptilian traits that features in the mythology of many cultures....
 killed by Cadmus
Cadmus

Cadmus or Kadmos , in Greek mythology mythology, was a Phoenician prince, the son of Agenor and the brother of Phoenix , Cilix and Europa ....
 before founding the city of Thebes, Greece
Thebes, Greece

Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, Greece, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain....
. In a third legend, it represents the dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece
Golden Fleece

In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the winged ram Chrysomallos . It figures in the tale of Jason and his band of Argonauts, who set out on a quest for the fleece in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus in Thessaly....
 and was killed by Jason
Jason

Jason was a late ancient Greece Greek mythology figure, famous as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus....
. The fact that the stars of this circumpolar constellation never set plays an important part in its mythologies.

In Roman legend, Draco was a dragon killed by the goddess Minerva
Minerva

Minerva was the Roman mythology name of Greek goddess Athena. She was considered to be the virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving,crafts, and the inventor of music....
 and tossed into the sky upon his defeat.

The Arabs did not interpret the constellation as a dragon, seeing instead an asterism
Asterism

Asterism may refer to:* Asterism , a pattern of stars* Asterism , an optical phenomenon in gemstones* Asterism , a moderately rare typographical symbol denoting a break in passages...
 called the Mother Camels
Mother Camels

The Mother Camels is the name given by ancient Arabic nomadic tribes to an asterism in the constellation of Draco . Instead of the head of a dragon, the asterism is interpreted as a ring of mother camels surrounding a baby camel , with another mother camel running to join them....
. ?

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