I just love the little constellation Delphinus the Dolphin and I hope you fall in love with it too! It's in the upper tier of the smallest of constellations seen from Earth. When most people think of constellations they think of dot-to-dot pictures made by stars. The vast majority of constellations however don't measure up to this. The little celestial dolphin is a pleasant exception.

In October, the snake-like dragon appears in the northwestern sky. The best thing to do is face the western sky and look for the brightest star you can see. That's Vega, the brightest star in the small constellation Lyra the Harp. Look a little to the right of Vega for a modestly bright trapezoid of four stars that outline the head of the dragon. This is where you find Draco's brightest star, Eltanin, and that's not even all that bright of a star.

Your Draco challenge is well underway. From Draco's head, hold your fist out at arm's length. At about two of your "fist widths" to the upper right, you'll find two faint stars fairly close to each other. These less-than-brilliant stars mark the end of the snake dragon's neck. I think finding those two stars is the key to seeing the rest of Draco. From those two stars, the main section of Draco's body coils downward. Look for a more or less vertical, crooked line of modestly bright stars that stretches down about two and a half fist widths at arm's length. From there, you'll see a fairly faint but distinct horizontal line of stars that kinks off to the right and depicts Draco's tail. You'll notice that Draco's tail lies just above the much fainter Big Dipper. Hopefully between my description and the star map you can find Draco. It kind of looks like a reversed letter S.

How did poor Draco wind up unwound in the sky? According to Greek mythology, Hera, the queen of the gods, received a supersized, gorgeous basket of solid-gold apples as a wedding present from her new husband, Zeus, the king of the gods. She kept her precious apples in her private garden at the castle and had her pet dragon, Draco, guard them. Draco was Hera's pet since childhood and was extremely loyal to her. He guarded those apples around the clock and fended off numerous unsuccessful thieves.

One moonless night, while Draco was dozing at his post, Hercules, the legendary hero, was on one of his missions to atone for a hideous crime from years before. One of the missions was to make off with Hera's golden apples. Hercules smashed the palace gate and charged toward the golden fruit. Draco immediately came to life and a tumultuous battle broke out that went on for hours and hours. Draco nearly trapped Hercules in his coiled tail when Hercules managed to pull a dagger from his shoe and thrust it into Draco's heart. Hercules then fled with the plundered golden apples.

Hera discovered Draco's body and the missing apple basket. She was greatly upset about losing the golden apples, but was more upset about losing a pet she'd known all her life. Hera decided to reward Draco for his loyalty by magically placing his body in the stars as an eternal honor. The trouble is that when she picked up his bloody, mangled body and hurled it into the heavens, it quickly and unceremoniously unraveled.

Sharpen your stargazing skills and take the Draco challenge. This is a good time.