The Constellation Draco
Draco is a large but not particularly prominent constellation which snakes its way around the north celestial pole, encircling Ursa Minor on three sides.
The name ‘Draco’ is Latin for ‘dragon’, and is identified as the dragon employed by Zeus' wife Hera to guard a tree on which golden apples grew. Among the labors of Hercules, one of the tasks set to the hero was to slay the dragon and steal the apples.
It is appropriate, then, that Draco is placed alongside Hercules in the sky, and is usually depicted with the demigod standing with one foot on the beast's head.
Despite its size – it is the sixth-largest constellation – Draco contains few objects of interest. It lies well away from the plane of the Milky Way, and so has few bright deep sky objects. One exception is the planetary nebula NGC 6543, also designated as C 6 in the Caldwell catalogue.
Ancient
2.6% of the sky
1083.0 square degrees
The following constellations neighbor Draco: Bootes, Camelopardalis, Cepheus, Cygnus, Hercules, Lyra, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor.
Hover the pointer over the name of an object to highlight its position on the starchart to the right, or click to see more information.
| Stars | Open Clusters | Globular Clusters | Galaxies |
| Eltanin (mag 2.2) | NGC 4236 (mag 9.7) | ||
| η-Dra (mag 2.7) | NGC 4125 (mag 9.7) | ||
| Rastaban (mag 2.8) | NGC 5866 (mag 9.9) | ||
| Altais (mag 3.1) | Messier 102 (mag 10.0) | ||
| ζ-Dra (mag 3.2) | NGC 6503 (mag 10.1) | ||
| Edasich (mag 3.3) | NGC 5907 (mag 10.4) | ||
| χ-Dra (mag 3.6) | NGC 4589 (mag 10.7) | ||
| Thuban (mag 3.6) | NGC 5982 (mag 11.1) | ||
| Grumium (mag 3.7) | NGC 6340 (mag 11.1) | ||
| λ-Dra (mag 3.8) | NGC 6643 (mag 11.1) | ||
| κ-Dra (mag 3.9) | NGC 6015 (mag 11.2) | ||
| HIP 97433 (mag 3.9) | NGC 4291 (mag 11.4) | ||
| θ-Dra (mag 4.0) | NGC 5678 (mag 11.4) | ||
| φ-Dra (mag 4.2) | NGC 5879 (mag 11.5) | ||
| HIP 47193 (mag 4.3) | NGC 6140 (mag 11.7) | ||
| τ-Dra (mag 4.5) | NGC 4386 (mag 11.7) | ||
| ρ-Dra (mag 4.5) | NGC 6412 (mag 11.7) | ||
| ψ-Dra (mag 4.6) | NGC 5987 (mag 11.7) | ||
| π-Dra (mag 4.6) | NGC 5965 (mag 11.8) | ||
| CU Dra (mag 4.6) | NGC 5985 (mag 11.8) | ||
| O-Dra (mag 4.6) | NGC 6654 (mag 11.8) | ||
| σ-Dra (mag 4.7) | NGC 6411 (mag 11.9) | ||
| d-Dra (mag 4.8) | NGC 5908 (mag 11.9) | ||
| ω-Dra (mag 4.8) | NGC 3147 (mag 11.9) | ||
| υ-Dra (mag 4.8) | NGC 4128 (mag 12.0) | ||
| Fafnir (mag 4.8) | NGC 6125 (mag 12.0) | ||
| HIP 82020 (mag 4.8) | NGC 4648 (mag 12.0) | ||
| g-Dra (mag 4.8) | NGC 4750 (mag 12.1) | ||
| ν²-Dra (mag 4.9) | NGC 5963 (mag 12.1) | ||
| HIP 51808 (mag 4.9) | NGC 3562 (mag 12.2) |
