Draco Constellation Meaning

Draco Constellation [Stellarium]

Constellation Draco the Dragon, is a northern constellation coiling around the north pole. It is one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy in the 2nd century and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Draco spans over 250 degrees of the zodiac from the Signs of Aries to Sagittarius.

Draco Constellation Stars

2000	2050	Star	Name	Sp. Class	Mag.
03♈23	04♈02	π Dra	Tais I	A2	4.60	1°00′
17♈10	17♈50	δ Dra	Altais	G9	3.07	1°50′
20♈22	21♈02	ρ Dra	Tais II	K3	4.51	1°10′
25♉03	25♉44	τ Dra	Athafi II	K3	4.45	1°10′
00♉09	00♉49	σ Dra	Alsafi	K0	4.67	1°00′
02♉42	03♉23	ε Dra	Tyl	G8	3.84	1°30′
20♉20	21♉00	υ Dra	Athafi I	K0	4.82	1°00′
20♉55	21♉37	73 Dra	Shàng Wèi	A0	5.18	1°00′
11♊09	11♊50	φ Dra	Aldhiba	A0	4.22	1°20′
15♊55	16♊37	χ Dra	Alahakan	F7	3.55	1°40′
13♋52	14♋35	ψ¹ Dra	Dziban	F5	4.57	1°10′
26♋13	26♋55	HD91190	Yīn Dé	K0	4.86	1°00′
10♌21	11♌03	λ Dra	Giausar	M0	3.82	1°30′
12♌18	13♌06	ω Dra	Al Dhih	F5	4.77	1°00′
16♌16	16♌59	κ Dra	Shào Wèi	B6	3.85	1°30′
22♌58	23♌41	7 Dra	Tianyi	K5	5.43	1°00′
24♌48	25♌30	9 Dra	Diyi	K2	5.37	1°00′
26♌11	26♌54	8 Dra	Taiyi	A5	5.23	1°00′
26♌36	27♌24	f Dra	Adfar Aldib I	K0	5.07	1°00′
04♍56	05♍39	i Dra	Nèi Chú	M3	4.58	1°10′
07♍28	08♍11	α Dra	Thuban	A0	3.67	1°40′
03♎23	04♎09	ζ Dra	Aldhibah	B6	3.17	1°50′
04♎57	05♎40	ι Dra	Edasich	K2	3.29	1°50′
14♎29	15♎13	η Dra	Athebyne	G8	2.73	2°00′
16♎39	19♎22	θ Dra	Shàng Zǎi	F8	4.01	1°20′
24♏44	25♏27	μ Dra	Alrakis	F5	4.91	1°00′
10♐19	11♐01	ν¹ Dra	Kuma	A3	4.89	1°00′
10♐23	11♐06	ν² Dra	Kuma	A4	4.86	1°00′
11♐57	12♐39	β Dra	Alwaid	G2	2.79	2°00′
19♐20	20♐03	HD161693	Alruba	A0	5.76	1°00′
24♐44	25♐26	ξ Dra	Grumium	K2	3.73	1°30′
27♐57	28♐39	γ Dra	Etamin	K5	2.24	2°10′
12♓13	12♓47	42 Dra	Fafnir	K2	4.82	1°00′

In the Stellarium image above, β Dra is labeled with its official name, Rastaban, but astrologers call it Alwaid. Likewise, γ Dra is labeled Eltanin, but astrologers call it Etamin.

Draco contains 17 formally named stars. The star names approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) are Aldhibah (ζ), Alrakis (μ), Alruba, Alsafi (σ), Altais (δ), Athebyne (η), Dziban (ψ¹), Edasich (ι), Eltanin (γ), Fafnir, Funi (HD 109246), Giausar (λ), Grumium (ξ), Rastaban (β), Taiyi (8), Thuban (α), and Tianyi (7). ^[1]

δ Dra is officially named Altais. Applied in recent times from a misreading of the Arabic constellation name al-tinnīn, “the Serpent,” as it appeared incorrectly in the late Arabic star catalog, as part of the name for δ Dra. (The incorrect word, al-tais, is a real word in Arabic meaning, “the He-goat,” however it was never used by the Arabs in stellar nomenclature. Furthermore, in the same Arabic source, in the name of ε Dra (formed parallel to that of δ Dra), the word was correctly written al-tinnīn.) ^[2]δ Dra is the Nodus Secundus or Nodus II, marking the 2d of the four Knots, or convolutions, in the figure of the Dragon. ^[5]The Chinese name is 天廚 Tiān Chú yī, “First Star of Celestial Kitchen.” ^[3]

ε Dra is called Tyl, but I can find no meaning for this name, only that it was labeled such by Bečvář (1951). The Chinese name for ε Dra is 天廚三 Tiān Chú sān, the “Third Star of the Celestial Kitchen.” ^[3]

ζ Dra is officially named Aldhibah, the “female wolf” from the Arabic ذئبة Al Dhiʼbah, the feminine form of the old Arabic name الذئب al-dhiʼb “the wolf” or “the hyena.” ^[4]ζ Dra and η Dra together were الذئبين al-dhiʼbayn, the “Two Wolves” or Hyaenas, lying in wait for the Camel’s Foal, the little star Al Rubaʽ (HD 161693), protected by the Mother Camels (the larger stars in Draco’s Head). ζ Dra is the Nodus III, marking the 3rd of the four Knots, or convolutions, in the figure of the Dragon. ^[5]The Chinese name is 上弼 Shàng Bì, “First Minister.” ^[3]

η Dra is officially named Athebyne, a rendering of the Arabic الذئبين al-dhiʼbayn, the “Two Wolves.” ζ Dra and η Dra together were الذئبين al-dhiʼbayn, the “Two Wolves” or Hyaenas, lying in wait for the Camel’s Foal, the little star Al Rubaʽ (HD 161693), protected by the Mother Camels (the larger stars in Draco’s Head). ^[5]The Chinese name for η Dra is 少宰 Shào Zǎi, “Second Premier.” ^[3]

θ Dra has the Chinese name 上宰 Shàng Zǎi, “First Premier.” ^[3]

ι Dra is officially named Edasich. Applied in recent times from its Arabic name al-dhīhk, “the Male Hyena.” ^[2]The Chinese name is 左樞 Zuǒ Shū, “Left Pivot.” ^[3]

κ Dra has the Chinese name 少尉 Shào Wèi, “Second Chief Judge.” ^[3]

λ Dra is officially named Giausar. From the Persian word jauzahr, a technical term designating the nodes of the moon’s or any planet’s orbit. Erroneously applied as a star name to λ Dra in recent times. ^[2]The Chinese name is 上輔 Shàng Fǔ, “First Minister.” ^[3]

μ Dra is officially named Alrakis. Applied in recent times from its Arabic name al-rāqiṣ, “the Trotting Camel.” ^[2]β, γ, μ, ν, and ξ were Al ʽAwāïd, the Mother Camels, which were known in Latin as the Quinque Dromedarii. ^[5]The Chinese name is 天棓增九 Tiānbàngzēngjiǔ, “9th additional star in the Celestial Flail.” ^[3]

ν Dra has the proper and un-traditional name Kuma, of obscure meaning, one source suggesting “at last,” but why is anybody’s guess. ^[6]β, γ, μ, ν, and ξ were Al ʽAwāïd, the Mother Camels, which were known in Latin as the Quinque Dromedarii. ^[5] The Chinese name is 天棓增一 Tiānbàngzēngyī, “1st additional star in the Celestial Flail.” ^[3]

ξ Dra is officially named Grumium. A Late Latin word (its correct spelling should be grunnum) meaning “snout, or muzzle (especially of a pig),” used in the Medieval Latin Almagest in describing this star. (Ptolemy and the Arabs described this star on the serpent’s “jawbone.”) The word was applied as a star name to ξ Dra in recent times. ^[2]β, γ, μ, ν, and ξ were Al ʽAwāïd, the Mother Camels, which were known in Latin as the Quinque Dromedarii. ^[5]The Chinese name is 天棓一 Tiānbàngyī, “1st star in the Celestial Flail.” ^[3]

π Dra is named Tais I, from the Arabic Tais al Awwal, “First Goat.” ^[7](from Al Tāis “The Goat.”) The Chinese name is 天廚六 Tiānchúliù, “6th star in the Celestial Kitchen.” ^[3]

ρ Dra is named Tais II, from the Arabic Tais ath Thani, “Second Goat.” (from Al Tāis “The Goat.”) The Chinese name is 天廚四 Tiānchúsì, “4th star in the Celestial Kitchen.” ^[3]

σ Dra is officially named Alsafi, corrupted from Athāfi, erroneously transcribed from the Arabic plurarl Athāfiyy, by which the nomads designated the tripods of their open-air kitchens; one of these being imagined in σ, τ, and υ. Uthfiyyah is the singular form. ^[5]The Chinese name is 天廚二 Tiānchúèr, “2nd star in the Celestial Kitchen.” ^[3]

τ Dra is named Athafi II, part of the Arabs’ cooking tripod with σ and υ. ^[5]The Chinese name is 御女一 Yùnǚyī, “1st star in Maids-in-waiting.” ^[3]

υ Dra is named Athafi I, part of the Arabs’ cooking tripod with σ and τ. ^[5]The Chinese name is 少弼 Shǎobì, “The Second Minister.” ^[3]

φ Dra is named Aldhiba or Aldhiba, from the old Arabic name الذئب al-dhiʼb “the wolf” (see ζ Dra). Another Arabic name for φ Dra is Batentaban Australis, from the Arabic بطن الثعبان baţn al-thubān, plus the Latin for South, which means “belly of the dragon (in the south).” The Chinese name is 柱史 Zhù Shǐ, “Official of Royal Archives.” ^[3]

χ Dra is named Alahakan, from the Arabic العوهقان ‎ Al ʽAuhaḳān, meaning “the two black bulls” or “the two ravens” (together with ψ Dra). ^[9]Another name is Batentaban Borealis, from the Arabic بطن الثعبان baţn al-thubān, plus the Latin for north, meaning “belly of the dragon (in the north).” The Chinese name is 御女四 Yùnǚsì, “4th star in Maids-in-waiting.” ^[3]

ψ¹ Dra is officially named Dziban, derived from the Arabic Adh-Dhi’ban, “The two wolves” or “The two jackals”. ^[5]The Chinese name is 女史 (Nǚ Shǐ, “Female Protocol.” ^[3]Translated by Allen at Niu She, meaning the “Palace Governess” or a “Literary Woman.” ^[5]ψ Dra has also been called Alahakan, from the Arabic العوهقان ‎ Al ʽAuhaḳān, meaning “the two black bulls” or “the two ravens,” (together with χ Dra). ^[9]

ω Dra is named Al Dhih. ω and f Dra were the Arabic الأظفار الذئب al-ʼaẓfār al-dhiʼb, “the hyena’s claws,” stretched out to clutch the Camel’s Foal. ^[5]The two stars have been distinguished as Adfar Aldib I (ω) and Adfar Aldib II (f Dra). ^[10]The Chinese name for ω Dra is 尚書 Shàng Shū, “1st star in Royal Secretary.” ^[3]

f (27) Dra is named Adfar Aldib II. ω and f Dra were the Arabic الأظفار الذئب al-ʼaẓfār al-dhiʼb, “the hyena’s claws,” stretched out to clutch the Camel’s Foal. ^[5]The two stars have been distinguished as Adfar Aldib I (ω) and Adfar Aldib II (f Dra). ^[10]

i (10) Dra has the Chinese name 內廚 Nèi Chú, “1st star in Inner Kitchen.” ^[3]

42 Dr is officially named Fafnir, the Norse mythological dwarf who turned into a dragon. ^[11]

73 Dra has the Chinese name 上衛 (Shàng Wèi, “First Imperial Guard.” ^[3]

HD 91190 has the Chinese name 陰德一 Yīndéyī, “1st star in Hidden Virtue.” [3]

HD 109246 is officially named Funi, Icelandic for “the Fire.” ^[11]

HD 161693 is officially named Alruba, from the Arabic الربع Al Rubaʽ, “the (camels) Foal,” protected by the Mother Camels (the larger stars in our Draco’s Head) from the Duo Lupi, the Two Hyaenas or Wolves (ζ and η Dra). ^[5]

Draco Astrology

Manilius

The Bears are not set face to face: each with its muzzle points at the other’s tail and follows one that follows it. Sprawling between them and embracing each the Dragon separates and surrounds them with its glowing stars lest they ever meet or leave their stations. ^[12]

Maternus

Outermost is the Snake (Draco), which, placed between the two Bears, glides along in the manner of a river with sinuous windings. Whoever was born with this constellation rising will be Marsi (wizards and snake-charmers), who are accustomed to prepare beneficial remedies from poisons and the pigments of herbs. But if this constellation is found in the DSC, they will perish struck by the bite or serpents, or surely by having drunk poison. ^[13]

Draco Constellation [Urania’s Mirror]

Robson

Legend. Draco represents the dragon that guarded the golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides. According to other accounts, however, it is either the dragon thrown by the giants at Minerva in their war with the Gods, or the serpent Python slain by Apollo after the deluge.

Influence. According to Ptolemy the bright stars are like Saturn and Mars. Draco gives an artistic and emotional but somber nature, a penetrating and analytical mind, much travel and many friends but danger of robbery and of accidental poisoning. It was said by the Ancients that when a comet was here poison was scattered over the world. By the Kabalists it is associated with the Hebrew letter Mem and the 13th Tarot Trump “Death.”

Magical. Gives craft, ingenuity, and valor. ^[14]

Noonan

Draco (Dra) was circumpolar about 5000 B.C., and some of its stars have been pole stars in the past. Ptolemy states that the bright stars of this constellation have the nature of Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter. The early astrologers called Draco “The Poisonous Dragon” and asserted that a comet within its borders scattered poison over the world. The constellation is especially hurtful to mineral resources The Dragon’s Head (North Node) and the Dragon’s Tail (South Node) refer to the Moon’s undulating course symbolized by the twisting of the Dragon about the North Pole. ^[15]

Allen

Draco, the Dragon. It was described as “The scaly horror of a dragon, coiled Full in the central field,”; and mythologists said that it was the Snake snatched by Minerva from the giants and whirled to the sky, where it became Sidus Minervae et Bacchi, or the monster killed by Cadmus at the fount of Mars, whose teeth he sowed for a crop of armed men.

Babylonian records allude to some constellation near the pole as a Snail drawn along on the tail of a Dragon that may have been our constellation; while among the inscriptions, we find Sir, a Snake, but to which of the sky serpents this applied is uncertain. And some see here the dragon Tiamat, overcome by the kneeling sun-god Izhdubar or Gizdhubar, our Hercules, whose foot is upon it.

Draco’s stars were circumpolar about 5000 B.C., and, like all those similarly situated, — of course few in number owing to the low latitude of the Nile country, — were much observed in early Egypt, although differently figured than as with us. Some of them were a part of the Hippopotamus, or of its variant the Crocodile, and thus shown on the planisphere of Denderah and the walls of the Ramesseum at Thebes. As such Delitzsch says that it was Hes-mut, perhaps meaning the Raging Mother. An object resembling a ploughshare held in the creature’s paws has fancifully been said to have given name to the adjacent Plough.

The hieroglyph for this Hippopotamus was used for the heavens in general; while the constellation is supposed to have been a symbol of Isis Hathor, Athor, or Athyr, the Egyptian Venus; and Lockyer asserts that the myth of Horus which deals with the Hor-she-shu, an almost prehistoric people even in Egyptian records, makes undoubted reference to stars here; although subsequently this myth was transferred to the Thigh, our Ursa Major. It is said that at one time the Egyptians called Draco Tanem, not unlike the Hebrew Tannim, or Aramaic Tannin, and perhaps of the same signification and derived from them.

Williams mentions a great comet, seen from China in 1337, which passed through Yuen Wei, apparently some unidentified stars in Draco. The creature itself was the national emblem of that country, but the Dragon of the Chinese zodiac was among the stars now our Libra: Edkins writes that Draco was Tsi Kung, the Palace of the Heavenly Emperor, adding, although not very clearly, that this palace is bounded by the stars of Draco, fifteen in number, which stretch themselves in an oval shape round the pole-star. They include the star Tai yi, xi, omicron, sigma, s, of Draco, which is distant about ten degrees from the tail of the Bear and twenty-two from the present pole. It was itself the pole in the Epoch of the commencement of Chinese astronomy.

Draco extends over twelve hours of right ascension, and contains 130 naked-eye components according to Argelander; 220, according to Heis: but both of these authorities extend the tail of the figure, far beyond its star lambda, to a 4th-magnitude under the jaws of Camelopardalis, — much farther than is frequently seen on the maps. ^[5]

Draco Constellation [Bullinger]

Bullinger

The Serpent represents him as the Deceiver; the Dragon, as the Destroyer. No one has ever seen a dragon; but among all nations (especially in China and Japan), and in all ages, we find it described and depicted in legend and in art. Both Old and New Testaments refer to it, and all unite in connecting with it one and the same great enemy of God and man. In the Zodiac of Denderah it is shown as a serpent under the fore-feet of Sagittarius, and is named Her-fent, which means the serpent accursed!

There are 80 stars in the constellation; four of the 2nd magnitude, seven of the 3rd magnitude, ten of the 4th, etc. The brightest star α (in one of the latter coils), is named Thuban (Heb.), the subtle. Some 4,620 years ago it was the Polar Star. It is manifest, therefore, that the Greeks could not have invented this constellation, as is confessed by all modern astronomers. It is still a very important star in nautical reckonings, guiding the commerce of the seas, and thus “the god of this world” is represented as winding in his contortions round the pole of the world, as if to indicate his subtle influence in all worldly affairs.

The next star, β (in the head), is called by the Hebrew name Rastaban, and means the head of the subtle (serpent). In the Arabic it is still called Al Waid, which means who is to be destroyed. The next star, γ (also in the head), is called Ethanin, i.e., the long serpent, or dragon. The Hebrew names of other stars are Grumian, the subtle; Giansar, the punished enemy. Other (Arabic) names are Al Dib, the reptile; El Athik, the fraudful; El Asieh, the bowed down. ^[16]