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Draco
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Ursa major constellation illustration art. (Big Dipper) stars, space, night sky)
Stars: Explosions in Space
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Latin:
“Dragon”
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Draco

constellation
Written by
Erik Gregersen
Erik Gregersen is a senior editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica, specializing in the physical sciences and technology. Before joining Britannica in 2007, he worked at the University of Chicago Press on the...
Erik Gregersen
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

Draco, constellation in the northern sky at about 18 hours right ascension and 70° north in declination. Its brightest star is Eltanin (from the Arabic for “dragon’s head”), with a magnitude of 2.2. Because of the precession of Earth’s axis, the star Thuban was the polestar in the third millennium bce. The identification of this constellation with a dragon dates back to the Babylonians. In Greek mythology Draco represented either the dragon that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides or the form Zeus took to escape from his father, Cronus.

Erik Gregersen
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