Watching the stars on a warm August night is a great way to unwind. And speaking of unwinding, one of the great summer constellations has been unwound for a long time. Draco is supposed to be a dragon in the sky, but it looks more like an uncoiled snake. According to Greek mythology, Draco got stretched out in the line of duty.
Hera, the queen of the gods, was given a beautiful set of solid gold apples as a wedding present from the goddess of the Earth. She kept the precious apples in the garden of the Hesperides under the guardianship of a sleepless dragon named Ladon, who was extremely loyal to Hera. He guarded those apples around the clock and fended off many thieves.
But the hero Hercules had been assigned the task of stealing the golden apples as one of his famous 12 labors. Hercules killed the dragon with poisoned arrows and carried away the apples. (In many versions, Hercules enlists the aid of the Titan Atlas, father of the Hesperides, because he knew where the garden was.)
Hera discovered the dragon’s body and the absent apples. She was upset about losing the golden apples but was more upset about losing a loyal pet. Hera decided to reward him, placing his body in the stars as the constellation Draco as an eternal honor to him.
The great dragon is now the large constellation that we see high in the northern sky in the summer. You may want to pull up my August star map from my Web site at www.lynchandthestars.com for help finding Draco. It’s one of the more challenging constellations to find.
The sky should be dark enough by 9:30 or 10 p.m. Draco looks a bit like a backward “S.” Look nearly overhead for the brightest star you can see. That will be Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra. Look about 10 degrees below Vega in the direction of the northern horizon for a distinct but small diamond of stars that outlines Draco’s head. Ten degrees is about the width of your fist held at arm’s length against the sky.
From Draco’s head high in the northern sky, look about 15 degrees to the lower right for two more slightly faint stars. That line from Draco’s head to those two stars makes up the neck of the stretched out dragon. From there the body of Draco kinks off to the left in a nearly straight line of brighter stars about 20 degrees long. The tail of Draco kinks to a nearly vertical line from there and ends right between the cup sections of the Big and Little Dippers.
Draco is not one of the easiest constellations to find, but locating it will sharpen your stargazing skills.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis; he is the author of the new book “Washington Starwatch,” available at bookstores and on his Web site, www.lynchandthestars.com.
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