Draco, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor Constellations
Draco is a constellation in the far northern sky. Its name is Latin for dragon. Draco is circumpolar (that is, never setting) for many observers in the northern hemisphere. The north pole of the ecliptic is in Draco. In Greco-Roman legend, Draco was a dragon killed by the goddess Minerva and tossed into the sky upon his defeat. Ursa Major, the Great Bear, is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, is a constellation in the northern sky. Like the Great Bear, the tail of the Little Bear may also be seen as the handle of a ladle, hence the name Little Dipper. They were three of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and they remain among the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. Poeticon astronomicon is a star atlas whose authorship is disputed. The work was originally attributed to the Roman historian Gaius Julius Hyginus (64 BC - AD 17). It was not formally published until 1482, by Erhard Ratdolt. He commissioned a series of woodcuts, but the relative positions of the stars bear little resemblance to the descriptions given by Hyginus in the text or the actual positions of the stars in the sky
