Diagram caption: The constellation Draco with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Draco is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Cepheus, Ursa Minor, Boötes, Hercules, Lyra and Cygnus.

Draco is a sprawling northern constellation, parts of which lie close to the celestial north pole. As such the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year from the whole northern hemisphere and a thin sliver of the southern hemisphere near the equator. Parts of the constellation are visible from all other southern equatorial and some southern temperate regions. Draco is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter.

The planetary nebula NGC 6543 (also known as the Cat’s Eye Nebula) lies in Draco. It is marked here with a green circle superimposed on a plus sign.

This diagram maps an area around the north celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. Some of the lines of constant declination are marked on the y-axis. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.

Diagram credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope. Credit Link

Diagram translation status: Not yet approved by a reviewer
Related glossary terms: Apparent Magnitude , Circumpolar Stars , Declination , North Celestial Pole (NCP) , Planetary Nebula , Right Ascension (RA) , الإحداثيات السماوية , مجموعة نجمية او حشد نجمى
Categories: Naked Eye Astronomy

Diagram license: Creative Commons نَسب المُصنَّف 4.0 دولي (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons نَسب المُصنَّف 4.0 دولي (CC BY 4.0) icons