Dragon (lat. Draco) is a circumpolar constellation of the Northern hemisphere of the sky. The long figure of this constellation meanders around the north pole of the world, covering Ursa Minor from three sides. The head of the "dragon" is easy to find directly north of Hercules, under his left leg, bent at the knee. But the long body of the writhing dragon is not easy to trace, for it contains many faint stars. It occupies an area of 1083.0 square degrees in the sky and contains 210 stars visible to the naked eye.
In Mesopotamia, this constellation symbolized the progenitor of all life - the huge Dragon Tiamat (the Sumerians word tiamat meant the sea). The Greeks, taking advantage of them, took information about this constellation from them, and introduced it into their mythology. In these myths, the dragon had the name Frankincense. There are also references to him from the era of the Titans. In the midst of the battle, one of the Titans threw the dragon at Athena, she took it by the tail, spun it and threw it into the sky. The dragon, writhing in rings, flew to the worst pole and froze to it, because there was eternal cold. So he remained in heaven, becoming a sign and a reminder of the victory of the Gods over the titans. Previously, this constellation played a huge role, its star Thuban indicated where the north was. Now, with the passage of time and change in the course of this precession of the Earth, this role has been transferred to the North Star from the constellation Ursa Major.
Thuban (α Dra) was the star closest to the north pole of the Universe from 3700 to 1500 BC. e. Thanks to the precession, it will become so again in 21,000 AD. e.
