Circa Survivor
Member
|
the following is from the wikipedia : The star Thuban (α Draconis) was the northern pole star around 2700 B.C., during the time of the ancient Egyptians. Due to the effects of precession, it will once again be the pole star around the year 21,000 A.D. Although Thuban's Bayer designation is α Draconis, it is not the brightest star in the constellation. At magnitude 3.65, it is more than a magnitude fainter than the brightest star, γ Draconis (Eltanin), whose magnitude is 2.23. There are several double stars of interest in Draco. ν Draconis (Kuma) consists of two components of magnitude 4.9, 62 arcseconds apart. They can be split with binoculars. R Draconis and T Draconis are Mira-type variable stars. R ranges between magnitudes 6.7 and 13 with a period of 245.5 days, and T ranges between magnitudes 7.2 and 13.5 with a period of 421.2 days. σ Draconis is relatively close to Earth, only 18.8 light years away. In the most famous of the myths, Draco represents Ladon, the hundred-headed dragon that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides. The eleventh of The Twelve Labours of Heracles was to steal the golden apples. Heracles killed Ladon with a poisoned arrow, allowing him to freely take the golden apples. According to the legend, Hera later placed the dragon in the sky as the constellation Draco. Due to its position and nearby constellations in the zodiac sign of Libra (i.e. Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, and Boötes), the group of constellations can be seen to tell the tale of the eleventh labour. In another legend, Draco represents the dragon killed by Cadmus before founding the city of Boeotia. In a third legend, it represents the dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece and was killed by Jason. By astronomical chance, the Dragon's Head and Dragon's Tail mark the positions of the lunar nodes, those points where the paths of the solar and lunar orbits intersect and where solar and lunar eclipses may occur. The Dragon's head (Caput draconis, ) refers to the ascending node, the Dragon's tail (Cauda draconis, ) the descending node. In several cultures, an eclipse was attributed to the disappearance of the moon or sun as they were swallowed by a dragon. The fact that the stars of this circumpolar constellation never set plays an important part in its mythologies hope this helps somebody , or anybody
|