Eltanin
Gamma Draconis · Draco
Position (2026)
♐ 28°20' Sagittarius
Magnitude
2.24
Planetary Nature
Saturn / Jupiter (robson)
Robson: Saturn and Jupiter. Also known as Etamin. Gamma Draconis.
Spectral Type
K5III
Appearance
An orange giant in the head of the Dragon, once used by James Bradley to discover the aberration of starlight
Name Origin
Language
Arabic
Original Form
Al Rā's al-Tinnīn
Meaning
The Head of the Dragon
Gamma Draconis. From the Arabic Al Rā's al-Tinnīn, the Head of the Dragon. Despite its gamma designation, it is the brightest star in Draco. Historically significant: James Bradley's careful observations of Eltanin in 1728 led to the discovery of the aberration of light, providing the first direct evidence of Earth's orbital motion.
Known As
Eltanin in Astrology
Eltanin, the eye of Draco the Dragon, carries Saturn-Jupiter energy that bestows a powerful, commanding vision and an association with the ancient, draconic forces of wisdom and guardianship. It grants you a capacity for seeing the long view, years, decades, or centuries, and for making decisions that account for consequences far beyond the immediate.
Mythology & History
Eltanin, also spelled Etamin, takes its name from the Arabic al-Tinnin, meaning 'the serpent' or 'the dragon,' describing its position as the brightest star in Draco's head. In Egyptian astronomy, the temple of Hathor at Dendera was aligned to Eltanin. James Bradley's careful observations of Eltanin in 1728 led to the discovery of the aberration of light, one of the first direct proofs of Earth's orbital motion. The Saturn-Jupiter nature gives Eltanin a quality of ancient, ponderous wisdom combined with fearsome power.
Draco Context
Eltanin marks the right eye in the quadrilateral of stars forming the head of Draco the Dragon. Draco coils around the north celestial pole, and in Greek mythology the dragon was Ladon, the hundred-headed serpent that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides until slain by Heracles. The dragon constellation represents the guardian of treasures, the ancient sentinel whose vigilance protects what is most precious. Eltanin in the dragon's eye is the seat of that tireless watchfulness.
Learn more about Draco and its stars.
Natal Conjunctions
Find your conjunctions →Eltanin Conjunct Sun
Eltanin conjunct the Sun produces a personality of ancient, commanding vision and the capacity for tireless vigilance. You possess the dragon's quality of guarding what is precious with unwavering, patient watchfulness, and your identity carries a weight of accumulated, archaic power.
Eltanin Conjunct Moon
Eltanin conjunct the Moon creates emotional instincts of vigilant, watchful depth and ancient, hoarded feeling. Your emotions carry a quality of accumulated weight that connects to something older than personal experience, and security comes through guarding your inner treasures fiercely.
Eltanin Conjunct Mercury
Eltanin conjunct Mercury gives a mind of ancient, penetrating vision and the capacity for tireless intellectual vigilance. You see patterns that span eons and think with a quality of archaic depth that conventional analysis cannot replicate.
Eltanin Conjunct Venus
Eltanin conjunct Venus brings ancient, guarded beauty and the devotion of a dragon protecting its hoard. You love with a possessive, fiercely protective quality and are drawn to beauty that carries the weight of ages.
Eltanin Conjunct Mars
Eltanin conjunct Mars channels assertive energy through the dragon's tireless, vigilant defensive force. You fight to protect what you guard with the patient, unrelenting persistence of something that never sleeps.
Eltanin Conjunct Jupiter
Eltanin conjunct Jupiter expands ancient vigilance into broad, commanding philosophical authority. You possess the scope to guard wisdom on a civilizational scale and lead with the weight of genuinely ancient understanding.
Eltanin Conjunct Saturn
Eltanin conjunct Saturn deepens the dragon's vigilance into permanent, structurally absolute guardianship. You guard your responsibilities with a patience measured in decades and build defenses designed to endure for generations.
Eltanin Conjunct Uranus
Eltanin conjunct Uranus electrifies ancient power with sudden, unexpected displays of force. You guard what is precious with methods that surprise those who assumed your vigilance was merely passive watchfulness.
Eltanin Conjunct Neptune
Eltanin conjunct Neptune infuses the dragon's vision with mystical sight and the capacity for perceiving threats invisible to ordinary awareness. You guard sacred things with a spiritual vigilance that operates beyond rational detection.
Eltanin Conjunct Pluto
Eltanin conjunct Pluto transforms the dragon's guarding power into encounters with the most fundamental forces of hoarded, accumulated power. You sit upon transformative resources that others can only imagine.
Eltanin Conjunct North Node
Eltanin conjunct the North Node orients destiny toward developing the dragon's ancient vigilance and commanding, patient guardianship over what is most precious.
Eltanin Conjunct Ascendant
Eltanin on the Ascendant gives a commanding, anciently powerful presence with a quality of tireless watchfulness. Others sense the dragon's vigilance in your bearing and understand that what you guard is not easily approached.
Eltanin Conjunct Midheaven
Eltanin on the Midheaven builds a career through commanding vigilance and the patient, tireless guardianship of professional responsibilities. Recognition comes through the weight and permanence of your watchful authority.
Paran Interpretations
Parans describe what happens when Eltanin and a planet simultaneously occupy the four angles (rising, culminating, setting, nadir) at a given location.
Eltanin in Paran with Sun
Rising
Eltanin rising with the Sun marks someone who enters life with the dragon's ancient vigilance and commanding, watchful power.
Culminating
Eltanin culminating with the Sun places commanding, vigilant authority at the peak of public career achievement.
Setting
Eltanin setting with the Sun suggests a legacy of tireless guardianship and ancient, commanding wisdom honored over time.
At the Nadir
Eltanin at the nadir with the Sun reveals extraordinary hidden reserves of ancient, guarding power that anchor all outward vigilance.
Eltanin in Paran with Moon
Rising
Eltanin rising with the Moon instills early emotional vigilance and the dragon's fierce, hoarding protective instincts.
Culminating
Eltanin culminating with the Moon brings ancient, watchful emotional power to its most publicly commanding expression.
Setting
Eltanin setting with the Moon indicates emotional guardianship that grows more anciently deep and vigilantly fierce with age.
At the Nadir
Eltanin at the nadir with the Moon conceals extraordinary emotional depth and vigilant hoarding instincts beneath watchful surfaces.
Eltanin in Paran with Mercury
Rising
Eltanin rising with Mercury bestows early intellectual vigilance and the dragon's ancient, penetrating analytical vision.
Culminating
Eltanin culminating with Mercury elevates commanding, vigilantly precise thinking to the highest professional authority.
Setting
Eltanin setting with Mercury suggests a mind that grows more anciently deep and vigilantly perceptive with decades.
At the Nadir
Eltanin at the nadir with Mercury reveals hidden reserves of ancient analytical depth beneath vigilantly watchful surfaces.
Eltanin in Paran with Venus
Rising
Eltanin rising with Venus shapes early love with the dragon's fierce, guarding devotion and ancient, hoarded beauty.
Culminating
Eltanin culminating with Venus brings recognition for beauty guarded and expressed with ancient, commanding depth.
Setting
Eltanin setting with Venus suggests love that grows more fiercely guarded and deeply treasured with the passage of years.
At the Nadir
Eltanin at the nadir with Venus conceals a private, fiercely hoarded devotion of ancient depth beneath watchful composure.
Eltanin in Paran with Mars
Rising
Eltanin rising with Mars channels early physical energy into the dragon's tireless, vigilant defensive force.
Culminating
Eltanin culminating with Mars places tireless, commanding defensive power at the absolute peak of achievement.
Setting
Eltanin setting with Mars indicates guarding force that grows more patiently vigilant and anciently formidable with age.
At the Nadir
Eltanin at the nadir with Mars conceals extraordinary reserves of patient, tireless fighting energy that never truly sleeps.
Eltanin in Paran with Jupiter
Rising
Eltanin rising with Jupiter expands early vigilance into broad, commanding guardianship of philosophical or civilizational scope.
Culminating
Eltanin culminating with Jupiter brings peak achievement through expansive, anciently wise commanding authority.
Setting
Eltanin setting with Jupiter indicates growing scope for ancient vigilance and expanding commanding influence in later years.
At the Nadir
Eltanin at the nadir with Jupiter reveals vast inner ancient wisdom and philosophical guardianship that fuel all outward authority.
Eltanin in Paran with Saturn
Rising
Eltanin rising with Saturn demands early discipline in developing the dragon's patient, structurally permanent vigilance.
Culminating
Eltanin culminating with Saturn achieves the deepest commanding authority through decades of tireless, disciplined guardianship.
Setting
Eltanin setting with Saturn builds an enduring legacy of permanent, structurally vigilant authority honored across generations.
At the Nadir
Eltanin at the nadir with Saturn establishes the deepest inner reserves of patient, ancient, disciplined guardianship.
Eltanin in Paran with Ascendant
Rising
Eltanin rising with the Ascendant stamps the personality with the dragon's commanding, anciently watchful presence.
Culminating
Eltanin culminating with the Ascendant projects tireless, commanding vigilance onto the broadest possible stage.
Setting
Eltanin setting with the Ascendant draws others who sense the dragon's ancient, guarding power in your bearing.
At the Nadir
Eltanin at the nadir with the Ascendant grounds identity in deeply private ancient power and vigilant guardianship.
Eltanin in Paran with Midheaven
Rising
Eltanin rising with the Midheaven launches a career defined by commanding vigilance and tireless professional guardianship.
Culminating
Eltanin culminating with the Midheaven represents peak career achievement through ancient, commanding watchful authority.
Setting
Eltanin setting with the Midheaven indicates a career legacy of tireless guardianship and commanding vigilance honored across decades.
At the Nadir
Eltanin at the nadir with the Midheaven builds career success on hidden foundations of ancient, patient, vigilant discipline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the name Eltanin mean?
The name Eltanin comes from Arabic: Al Rā's al-Tinnīn, meaning "The Head of the Dragon." Gamma Draconis. The star is known by 3 different cultural names across world traditions.
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