By 10 pm the zigzag constellation of Draco the Dragon is halfway up the northeastern sky to the right of the Little Dipper. Draco’s tail is a line of stars between the Big and Little Dippers. One of those stars is Thuban, which lies between the bowl of the Little Dipper and the middle of the Big Dipper’s handle. About 5000 years ago, when the Egyptian pyramids were built, Thuban was the North Star and entrances to the pyramids were designed with a descending passageway aligned to this star. Coincidentally, the inner two stars of the Big Dipper’s bowl point to Thuban, just as the outer pair points toward Polaris, the current North Star.
From the tail, Draco arcs around the bowl of the Little Dipper and then curves back toward Hercules, with its head being a quadrilateral of stars by the strongman’s foot. The two brightest stars in Draco’s head, Eltanin and Rastaban, are its eyes. They are the brightest and third brightest of the constellation. The faintest of the four is a treat in binoculars, showing matching white stars that resemble headlights or cat eyes. In mythology, the dragon was one of the Titans, rivals of the Olympians. In one of their battles, Athena slung the dragon high into the northern sky. Writhing to right itself, it struck against the northern sky and froze in that position.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Saint John is at 5:53 and sunset will occur at 8:48, giving 14 hours, 55 minutes of daylight. Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 5:46 and set at 8:56, giving 15 hours, 10 minutes of daylight.
The Moon is new and near perigee on Saturday so expect extreme tides early in the week. On its way to first quarter next Saturday the waxing crescent is very close to Venus on Monday evening, nearing Jupiter on Tuesday, lining up with the Gemini stars Pollux and Castor on Wednesday, and by Friday it leads Regulus toward the western horizon. On Sunday telescope and maybe binocular users might see Jupiter’s moon Europa emerge from the planet’s shadow at 9:50 pm followed by Io three minutes later. This weekend Saturn is rising 95 minutes before sunrise, followed by Mars half an hour later. If you need an excuse for a party, Uranus is in conjunction with the Sun next Friday.
The Kouchibouguac Star Party is this weekend, May 15-16. See the RASC NB website for details. Tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm on the YouTube channel and Facebook page of Astronomy by the Bay.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
