Draco (lived 7th century BC)
Athenian politician, the first to codify the laws of the Athenian city-state. These were notorious for their severity; hence draconian, meaning particularly harsh.
Draco
Large but faint constellation represented as a dragon coiled around the north celestial pole. Due to precession (Earth's axial wobble), the star Alpha Draconis (Thuban) was the pole star 4,700 years ago.
This star seems to have faded, for it is no longer the brightest star in the constellation as it was at the beginning of the 17th century. Gamma Draconis is more than a magnitude brighter. The latter was extensively observed in the early 18th century by English astronomer James Bradley, who from its apparent changes in position discovered the aberration of starlight and nutation.
The north pole of the ecliptic – the point around which the north celestial pole circles in its precessional motion – lies in Draco.
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