Draco
Position in the Sky
Named Stars
Did you see the movie Dragonheart?
It was OK. It certainly isn't my favorite movie of all time, but the
special effects that made the dragon were pretty cool. Anyway, the
constellation pictured above was shown many times during the movie
(upside down, though). Did you know that as the year goes on, Draco
turns upside down? During winter evenings, it appears like the
picture above (if you are looking north) while in the summer, it it
flipped over. This is because from our point of view here on Earth,
it has rotated around the North Star.
About 4000 years ago, the star Thuban
was the North Star. Since then, precession of the Earth's axis has
changed where the North Pole points, so the North Star is now Polaris. In another 10,000 years or so,
the North Star will be Vega.
See also
Star Facts for June 1995
Back to Constellations Home Page