Some constellations in the skies over Western Pennsylvania are easy to see and some are not. Draco the Dragon is not the easiest of constellations to find, but once you do you feel like you've really accomplished something. It's certainly one of the larger constellations in the heavens but the problem is that its stars aren't all that bright.

The best way to find Draco is to visualize it more as a coiled snake rather than a dragon. Actually, according to Greek mythology, Draco is supposed to be a stretched out dragon, but more on that later.

This time of year the snakelike dragon is found in the western skies, so face the west and look for the brightest star you can see.

That will be Vega, high in the western sky and 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 as you'll see it's not all that bright of a star.

Your Draco challenge is well under way. 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.

Finding those two stars is, I think, 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 more modestly bright stars that stretch 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 that depicts the tail of Draco.

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.

I love the mythological story about how poor Draco wound up unwound in the sky. It goes like this. Hera, the queen of the gods, was given a 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 named Draco guard the apples. Draco was Hera's pet since childhood and was extremely loyal to her. He guarded those apples 24/7 and fended off many dastardly thieves.

Then one moonless night while Draco was snoozing a bit at his post, Hercules, the legendary hero, smashed the palace gate and leaped toward the golden fruit.

Draco rousted himself immediately and a tumultuous battle broke out that went on for hours and hours. Draco just about had Hercules trapped in his coiled tail when with all his might Hercules managed to pull a dagger out of his shoe and pierced it right through the beast's heart. Hercules then made off with his plundering of golden apples.

Hera discovered Draco's body and the absent apples. 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 to him. The trouble is that when she picked up his bloody, mangled body and hurled it into the heavens, it quickly and unceremoniously unraveled.

Without a doubt Draco is not one of the easiest constellations to find, but looking for it and finding it will really sharpen your stargazing skills. The full moon we have this week will also add to the challenge. Wind down from your busy day and look for Hera's loyal and now unwound celestial dragon.

The Jupiter Venus Show

All this month, the bright planets Jupiter and Saturn will be approaching each other in the low southwestern sky during the later part of evening twilight. Venus is the brighter of the two, located to the lower right of Jupiter. By Nov. 30th they will be only two degrees apart. It'll be quite a show in the next several weeks. Don't miss it!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the new book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch," available at bookstores and at his Web site www.lynchandthestars.com.