Draco

E535701

Draco is a faint northern constellation named after the Latin word for "dragon," winding between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor in the night sky.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Draco canonical 21

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (54)

Predicate Object
instanceOf constellation
northern constellation
areaSquareDegrees 1083
associatedMythology Greek mythology
bordersConstellation Bootes
Camelopardalis
Cepheus
Corona Borealis
Cygnus
Hercules
Lynx
Lyra
Ursa Major
Ursa Minor
brightestStar Eltanin
brightestStarApparentMagnitude about 2.2
brightestStarDesignation Gamma Draconis
CatsEyeNebulaDesignation NGC 6543
circumpolarFromLatitude mid-northern latitudes
containsDeepSkyObject Cat's Eye Nebula
Draco Dwarf Galaxy
NGC 5866
NGC 5907
containsMessierObject M101 (historically misattributed)
linked to: Messier 101

M102
containsNorthEclipticPole true
declinationRange about +47° to +86°
DracoDwarfGalaxyType spheroidal dwarf galaxy
etymology Latin word for "dragon"
IAUAbbreviation Dra
IAUConstellationFamily Ursa Major family
IAUGenitive Draconis
LadonRole dragon guarding the golden apples of the Hesperides
liesBetween Ursa Major
Ursa Minor
listedBy Ptolemy
listedInWork Almagest
locatedInSkyRegion northern celestial hemisphere
meaning dragon
mythologicalFigure Ladon
nameLanguage Latin
notableStar Rastaban
Thuban
numberOfMainStars about 14
rankByArea 8
RastabanDesignation Beta Draconis
rightAscensionRange about 11h to 20h
ThubanDesignation Alpha Draconis
ThubanHistoricalRole former north pole star
ThubanPoleStarEpoch around 2700 BCE
visibleFromLatitudeRange +90° to −15° approximately
visibleInSeason northern autumn
northern spring
northern summer

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (21)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.