Dr. Hooke observed Eltanin with his telescope in the daytime in 1669, but its chief interest lies in the fact that the observation of it led Bradley in 1725 to discover the laws of the aberration of light.
Allen cites the following interesting facts respecting Eltanin: The Bœotian Thebes, the city of the dragon, from the story of its founder Cadmus, shared with its Egyptian namesake the worship of this star in a temple dedicated about 1130 b.c. Eltanin lies almost exactly in the zenith of Greenwich, and hence it has been called "the zenith star." It has been observed at Greenwich for more than two hundred years.
ν Draconis is an interesting double star, separable with a field-glass of high power, the distance of the components being almost exactly one minute of arc.
The remaining stars in the constellation are of no special interest though their many titles are evidence of the great importance of this constellation to the ancients.
something magnificent in this thought of the ancient temple-builders to square their work by the stars, and to construct long rows of sphinxes and majestic columns to conduct a ray from the sky to the eye of the god in his dark and hidden chamber, where no impious foot dared follow."
