Draco+-+Julian+Ordaz



Here is the body of my paper

Julian Ordaz Professor Adkins Astronomy 010 March 29, 2015 The Constellation of Draco

 The constellation that I had picked for my astronomy paper was Draco or also known as the “dragon” constellation. Draco’s name is derived from the Latin term draconem, which means “huge serpent” and the shape of the constellation resembles that of a snake as it slithers through the northern sky (Immermann, 2015). This constellation is said to never set below the horizon and can always be seen in the Northern Hemisphere but cannot be seen the Southern Hemisphere. There are many are a few different stories in which Draco appears in Greek mythology for example Gamdus, the brother of Eureopa, was brought to Crete by Zeus in the form of a bull and slayed the dragon Draco in his quest to find his sister. Another story was told that the Athenian goddess Minerva had taken Draco by the tail and put the serpent into the sky during the battle for Mount Olympus. Last was a story told in early Christianity that Draco was the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Immmermann, 2015). While Draco’s star Thuban was the pole star, it would appear to sky gazers that the world had revolved around the full constellation (Miles, 2015). It was said in Roman myth Ladon (Draco) guarded golden apples on a tree tended by the Hesperides or daughters of Atlas. Hercules, under the pledge of Eurystheus, was sent to gather apples from the tree but could not unless he received help from Atlas. Hercules shot and killed Ladon with an arrow then allowing Atlas to retrieve the golden apples. The goddess Hera was greatly divested by the death of Ladon and placed the great dragon into the heavens (Miles, 2015). Chiles tales tell of a dragon that who eats the sun or Moon during an eclipse. So during one the people of china would try to make as much noise as possible to prevent the dragon from eating the Sun or Moon (Miles, 205). Because Draco’s star Thuban was the polar star 5000 years ago ancient Egyptians would observe the constellation and some of its other stars were part of their constellation of Hippopotamus and some were of the Crocodile.  Draco has five major objects, which are contained within the constellation itself. The first is Thuban, which is about 215 light years distant. This star is along the Earth’s precessional path and is a class A0 star. The next star is Rastaban that means the “head of the snake” and is a class G2 white giant. Rastaban is a binary system with the companion being 11.5 in magnitude (Miles, 2015). The third star known as Gamma Draconis or Eltanin has a magnitude of 2.2, is a yellow giant class K5 star, and is about 110 light years away from earth. The temperature of this star is 3,800 degrees K and its luminosity is 145 times that of our sun. The fourth star is known as Eta Draconis and its neighbor Zeta was known by the Arabs as the Two Wolves or Ravens. This star is a yellow giant class G8 star with a magnitude of 2.7 and is about 65 light years distant. Eta Draconis has a companion, which appears very faint and is difficult to see in anything but very large telescopes. Finally yet importantly is Nu Draconis, which is a dim but attractive double star that can be found at the head of the dragon. This star is about 3 degrees from Eltanin and 3 degrees from Rastaban. The pair of stars has a separation of 62.3 arcseconds and are both blue-white sequence stars with a magnitude of 4.88 and 4.87. This pair of stars is 93 light years in distance (Miles, 2015).  The constellation itself ends just between the big and little dipper from head to tail. There is a Nebula, which is named the Cats Eye, which was found out by NASA. The constellation ecompasses several faint galaxies including the Draco Gwarf Galaxy, which is one of the least luminous galaxies with a diameter of about 3,500 light years. From early to mid-October there are two shooting stars, which are known as the Draconids that appear to radiate from Draco’s head (Immermann, 2015). The time that is best to see this constellation is in July at 9p.m local time.

By: Miles, Kathy By: Analia, Bustos on May 16, 2014

Bibliography Bustos, Analia. "Draco: Alsafi." //Prezi.com//. Prezi Inc., 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. Immermann, Kim Ann. "Draco Constellation: Facts About the Dragon | Space.com." //Space.com//. Purch, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.

Miles, Kathy. "Draco the Dragon." //Draco the Dragon//. N.p., 1995-2008. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.