Constellation, Dra
Draco: the Dragon
Draco covers 1,083 square degrees of sky, the 8th largest of the 88. Its brightest star is Eltanin. It is best placed in the evening sky in July.
Draco at a glance
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| IAU abbreviation | Dra |
| Meaning | the Dragon |
| Pronounced | DRAY-co |
| Genitive, used in star names | Draconis (for example a Bayer name such as α Draconis) |
| Area | 1,083 square degrees, number 8 of 88 by size |
| Stars to magnitude 6 in our catalogue | 121 |
| Brightest star | Eltanin, magnitude 2.2 |
| Best seen | Evenings in July, when it is highest at 9 pm |
| Declination range | 48° to 86° |
| Borders | Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, Cepheus, Camelopardalis, Hercules, Cygnus, Boötes, Lyra |
Where on Earth you can see Draco
Draco spans declinations 48° to 86°. Every part of it rises above the horizon at some moment for observers between latitudes 4°S and 90°N. Some of it can be seen from latitudes 42°S to 90°N. North of 42°N none of it ever sets. This is geometry only: it ignores haze, hills and buildings near the horizon.
From six cities
| City | Latitude | Visibility | Middle at its highest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pune | 18.5°N | All of it rises | 40° |
| New York | 40.7°N | All of it rises | 63° |
| London | 51.5°N | Never sets | 73° |
| Tromsø | 69.6°N | Never sets | 88° |
| Tokyo | 35.7°N | All of it rises | 58° |
| Sydney | 33.9°S | Only part of it rises | below the horizon |
Draco's named stars
These stars in Draco have names approved by the IAU Working Group on Star Names. Magnitude is brightness: a lower number is brighter, and the faintest stars seen with the naked eye on a dark night are about magnitude 6.
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Distance (light-years) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eltanin | γ Draconis | 2.24 | 150 |
| Athebyne | η Draconis | 2.73 | 92.1 |
| Rastaban | β Draconis | 2.79 | 380 |
| Altais | δ Draconis | 3.07 | 97.4 |
| Aldhibah | ζ Draconis | 3.17 | 330 |
| Edasich | ι Draconis | 3.29 | 100 |
| Thuban | α Draconis | 3.67 | 300 |
| Grumium | ξ Draconis | 3.73 | 110 |
| Giausar | λ Draconis | 3.82 | 330 |
| Dziban | ψ1 Draconis | 4.57 | 74.5 |
| Alsafi | σ Draconis | 4.67 | 18.8 |
| Fafnir | 42 Draconis | 4.82 | 310 |
| Alrakis | μ Draconis | 4.91 | 89.5 |
| Taiyi | 8 Draconis | 5.23 | 95.5 |
| Tianyi | 7 Draconis | 5.43 | 740 |
| Alruba | HR 6618 | 5.75 | 530 |
Distances are about, from the HYG database (Hipparcos parallax), and "not known" means the catalogue has no reliable parallax for that star.
How these facts were found
The name, meaning and boundaries are the IAU's. Area, borders and the latitude ranges are computed from those boundaries; the brightest star and the star count come from a magnitude-6 star catalogue; star names are matched to the catalogue by Hipparcos number and checked by position. The month is when Draco's middle crosses the north-south line of the sky at 9 pm local solar time. See How we know.
Sources
- IAU: The Constellations. Names, meanings, pronunciations and boundaries
- IAU Working Group on Star Names. The official names of stars
- astronomy-engine. The MIT licensed library that does the calculations, run on the page's build machine and in the app
- HYG database v4.4 (astronexus). Distances, spectral types and luminosities, licence CC BY-SA 4.0