Observing Draco.

[cotterless45]

Ever wondered what lays between Ursa Major and Minor ? You're looking at the long dim body of the circumpolar Draco .The head is north of Hercules , Rastaban and Eltanin are the end stars here.

There are several easy and challenging targets ;

NGC 6543 is quite clearly non stellar from x50. It responds well to magnification up to x200 will just expand it's greenly blue halo, to give a glimpse of this "Cat's Eye Nebula".

NGC 5866 (9.9)is the "Spindle galaxy" a lovely bright target. There's over 40 galaxies here brighter than +13,the brightest being

NGC 6503(10.2) ,NGC 4125(9.7), NGC 3147(10.3) ,NGC 5907(10.3) and M102(9.9).

There are some spectacular doubles here, giving super challenges in spotting fainter companions,

I posted these on the double stars thread. Easiest are;

Mu Draconis ( Alrakis) at x250 gives a bright pair of twins at 2.3"

Nu Draconis are the eyes of the dragon , a bright identical binocular pair.

Omicron Draconis is an orange giant and companion at x40

Epsilon Draconis is lovely yellow blue contrast at x188 and a 3.2" seperation.

http://www.eaglecreekobservatory.org/eco/doubles/

These dim circumpolars like Camelopardalis, Lacerta and Draco are well worth seeking out in

Clear skies,

Nick.

[Daniel-K]

loads of stuff to hunt down in draco often overlooked

[Owmuchonomy]

I like to use Thuban to find my way around this part of the sky. Thuban of course was significant as a pole star for the ancient Egyptians.

[entropia]

Since I spend a couple of hours staring at Camelopardalis, I was looking at the other constellations nearby as well. Cygnus, Ursa Minor, Cepheus, etc and the I realized there were many stars left in between so I had to look at my phone app to see what constellation it was. Draco is easy to find (now I know) at dark skies but in the city sky I think it will be difficult.