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Boötes (is a constellation
Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
 in the northern sky, located between 0° and +60° declination
Declination

In astronomy, declination is one of the two coordinates of the equatorial coordinate system, the other being either right ascension or hour angle....
, 13 and 16 hours of right ascension
Right ascension

Right ascension is the astronomical term for one of the two coordinates of a point on the celestial sphere when using the equatorial coordinate system....
 on the celestial sphere
Celestial sphere

In astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an imagination rotation sphere of "gigantic radius", concentric spheres and coaxial with the Earth....
. The name comes from the Greek ???t??, meaning herdsman
Herdsman

Herdsman can refer to:* a Herder * the Perth suburb Herdsman, Western Australia* The Herdsman, a Chinese film by Xie Jin...
. The "ö" in the name is a diaeresis
Diaeresis

In linguistics, diaeresis, or dieresis, is the pronunciation of two adjacent vowels in two separate syllables rather than as a diphthong, and it is also the name of the diacritic mark used to prompt the reader to pronounce adjacent vowels in this manner....
, not an umlaut
Umlaut (diacritic)

The word umlaut is the name of a type of sound shift in spoken language and of the diacritic mark used to represent it Orthography. The diacritic mark comprises a pair of dots or lines placed over the letter that represents the affected Vowel....
, meaning that each 'o' is to be pronounced separately.

Boötes was one of the 48 constellations described by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy
Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman Greek mathematics, Greek astronomy, geographer and astrologer. He lived in History of Roman Egypt, and was probably born there in a town in the Thebaid called Ptolemais Hermiou; he died in Alexandria around 168 AD....
 and is now one of the 88 modern constellation
Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
s. It contains the third brightest star
List of brightest stars

Bright stars are bright because they have high luminosity and/or they are nearby. Below are the 91 brightest individual stars as seen from Earth in visible wavelengths ....
 in the night sky, Arcturus
Arcturus

|- bgcolor="#FFFAFA"| note : || H and K emission vary.Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation Bo?tes. With a visual magnitude of -0.05, it is also the list of brightest stars in the night sky, after Sirius and Canopus ....
.

lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m204800",this)' onMouseout='hide("m204800")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Tau_Bo%C3%B6tis">t Boötis
Tau Boötis

Tau Bo?tis is a yellow-white dwarf approximately 51 light-years away in the constellation of Bo?tes. The system is also a binary star system, with the secondary star being a red dwarf....
, a relatively Sun
Sun

The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
-like star, has the massive hot Jupiter
Hot Jupiter

Hot Jupiters are a class of extrasolar planet whose mass is close to or exceeds that of Jupiter , but unlike in the Solar System, where Jupiter orbits at 5 Astronomical Unit, the planets referred to as hot Jupiters orbit within approximately 0.05 AU of their parent stars, about one eighth the distance that Mercury orbits the Sun....
 t Boötis Ab
Tau Boötis Ab

Tau Bo?tis b, occasionally catalogued as Tau Bo?tis Ab, is an extrasolar planet approximately 50 light-years away around the primary star of the Tau Bo?tis in the constellation of Bo?tes....
.






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Boötes (is a constellation
Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
 in the northern sky, located between 0° and +60° declination
Declination

In astronomy, declination is one of the two coordinates of the equatorial coordinate system, the other being either right ascension or hour angle....
, 13 and 16 hours of right ascension
Right ascension

Right ascension is the astronomical term for one of the two coordinates of a point on the celestial sphere when using the equatorial coordinate system....
 on the celestial sphere
Celestial sphere

In astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an imagination rotation sphere of "gigantic radius", concentric spheres and coaxial with the Earth....
. The name comes from the Greek ???t??, meaning herdsman
Herdsman

Herdsman can refer to:* a Herder * the Perth suburb Herdsman, Western Australia* The Herdsman, a Chinese film by Xie Jin...
. The "ö" in the name is a diaeresis
Diaeresis

In linguistics, diaeresis, or dieresis, is the pronunciation of two adjacent vowels in two separate syllables rather than as a diphthong, and it is also the name of the diacritic mark used to prompt the reader to pronounce adjacent vowels in this manner....
, not an umlaut
Umlaut (diacritic)

The word umlaut is the name of a type of sound shift in spoken language and of the diacritic mark used to represent it Orthography. The diacritic mark comprises a pair of dots or lines placed over the letter that represents the affected Vowel....
, meaning that each 'o' is to be pronounced separately.

Boötes was one of the 48 constellations described by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy
Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman Greek mathematics, Greek astronomy, geographer and astrologer. He lived in History of Roman Egypt, and was probably born there in a town in the Thebaid called Ptolemais Hermiou; he died in Alexandria around 168 AD....
 and is now one of the 88 modern constellation
Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
s. It contains the third brightest star
List of brightest stars

Bright stars are bright because they have high luminosity and/or they are nearby. Below are the 91 brightest individual stars as seen from Earth in visible wavelengths ....
 in the night sky, Arcturus
Arcturus

|- bgcolor="#FFFAFA"| note : || H and K emission vary.Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation Bo?tes. With a visual magnitude of -0.05, it is also the list of brightest stars in the night sky, after Sirius and Canopus ....
.

Notable features

t Boötis
Tau Boötis

Tau Bo?tis is a yellow-white dwarf approximately 51 light-years away in the constellation of Bo?tes. The system is also a binary star system, with the secondary star being a red dwarf....
, a relatively Sun
Sun

The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
-like star, has the massive hot Jupiter
Hot Jupiter

Hot Jupiters are a class of extrasolar planet whose mass is close to or exceeds that of Jupiter , but unlike in the Solar System, where Jupiter orbits at 5 Astronomical Unit, the planets referred to as hot Jupiters orbit within approximately 0.05 AU of their parent stars, about one eighth the distance that Mercury orbits the Sun....
 t Boötis Ab
Tau Boötis Ab

Tau Bo?tis b, occasionally catalogued as Tau Bo?tis Ab, is an extrasolar planet approximately 50 light-years away around the primary star of the Tau Bo?tis in the constellation of Bo?tes....
. It is the fourth extrasolar planet
Extrasolar planet

An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet beyond the Solar System, orbiting a star other than the Sun. As of February 2009, 342 exoplanets are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia....
 discovered and is one of the most studied.

Boötes also hosts a large number of double stars suitable for viewing by amateur astronomers.

NGC 5466
NGC 5466

NGC 5466 is a class XII globular cluster in the Bo?tes constellation. Located 51,800 light years from Earth and 52,800 light years from the Galactic center, it was discovered by William Herschel on May 17, 1784 and as H VI.9....
 is a loose globular cluster that can be observed with most telescopes. It was discovered by William Herschel
William Herschel

Sir Frederick William Herschel, Fellow of the Royal Society Royal Guelphic Order was a German-born British astronomer and composer who became famous for discovering Uranus....
 on May 17, 1784.

The Boötes void
Boötes void

The Bo?tes void or the Great Void is a tremendously large, approximately spherically shaped nearly-empty region of Interstellar medium, devoid of Galaxy....
, a large section of the universe
Universe

The universe is defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and physical constants that govern them....
 devoid of galaxies, is located in the area of Boötes.

Mythology

Exactly whom Boötes is supposed to represent is not clear. According to one version, he was a ploughman who drove the oxen in the constellation Ursa Major
Ursa Major

Ursa Major is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin. It is dominated by the widely recognized asterism known as the Big Dipper or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures....
 using his two dogs Chara and Asterion (from the constellation Canes Venatici
Canes Venatici

Canes Venatici is a small northern constellation that was created by Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century. Its name is Latin for hunting dogs and it represents the mythological dogs Chara and Asterion being held on a leash by Bo?tes the herdsman, a neighboring constellation....
). The oxen were tied to the polar axis and so the action of Boötes kept the heavens in constant rotation.

Boötes was also supposed to have invented the plough
Plough

The plough is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. It has been a basic instrument for most of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in agriculture....
. This is said to have greatly pleased Ceres
Ceres (mythology)

| Image = Ceres_statue.jpg| Caption = This statue depicting Ceres holding wheat is on display at the Louvre in Paris, France.| Name = Ceres| God_of = Goddess of growing plants and motherly love...
, the goddess of agriculture who asked Jupiter
Jupiter (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods,and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
 to give Boötes a permanent fixture in the heavens as a reward for doing this.

Another version portrays Boötes as a grape grower called Icarius
Icarius

In Greek mythology, there were two people named Icarius, or Ik?rios .#One Icarius was the son of Oebalus and Gorgophone and, through Periboea, father of Penelope, Perileos and Iphthime....
, who one day invited the Roman god Bacchus, also called Dionysus
Dionysus

In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival....
, to inspect his vineyards. Bacchus revealed the secret of wine making to Icarius, who was so impressed by this alcoholic beverage that he invited his friends round to sample it. Having never tasted wine before, they all drank too much and woke up the next morning with terrible hangover
Hangover

A hangover describes the sum of unpleasant physiological effects following heavy consumption of drugs, particularly alcoholic beverages. The most commonly reported characteristics of a hangover include headache, nausea, sensitivity to photophobia and phonophobia, lethargy, dysphoria, and thirst....
s; and they made the mistaken assumption that Icarius had tried to poison them. It was decided that Icarius should pay the price with his own life, and he was swiftly murdered in his sleep. Bacchus placed Icarius in the stars to honor him.

Following another reading the constellation is identified with Arcas
Arcas

In Greek_mythology, Arcas is the son of Zeus and Callisto . Callisto was a nymph of the goddess Artemis. Zeus, being a flirtatious god, wanted Callisto for a lover....
, son of Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
 and Callisto
Callisto (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Callisto was a nymph of Artemis. Transformed into a bear and Catasterism, she was the bear-mother of the Arcadians, through her son Arcas....
. Arcas was brought up by his maternal grandfather Lycaon, to whom one day Zeus went and had a meal. To verify that the guest was really the king of the gods, Lycaon killed his grandson and prepared a meal made from his flesh. Zeus noticed and became very angry, transforming Lycaon into a wolf and gave back life to his son.

In the meantime Callisto had been transformed into a she-bear, by Zeus' wife, Hera
Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
, who was angry at Zeus' infidelity. When he was grown up, Arcas met with the she-bear and, since obviously he didn't recognize her as his mother, he began to chase Callisto. Callisto, followed by Arcas, sheltered herself in a temple, a sacred place whose profaners were convicted to death. To avoid such fate, Zeus decided to set them in the sky, Arcas as Boötes and Callisto as Ursa Major.

This is a rare version of the myth surrounding Ursa Major, as the myth usually holds that Arcas is transformed into a bear as well (becoming Ursa Minor), and in such versions Boötes has no part. Ursa Minor, and Ursa Major, are constellations whose identification only originated in later classical Greece, and in Rome, and as such Boötes kept separate associations dating from much earlier.

Boötes was considered to be Atlas
Atlas (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Atlas was the primordial Titan who supported the heavens. Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia or Klym?ne :...
 by some ancient Greek legends, as well as those in other early Mediterranean cultures, since it takes an appropriate position in the sky (its arms near the pole star
Polaris

Polaris is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole , making it the current northern pole star....
, but its body standing on/near the ecliptic
Ecliptic

The ecliptic is the apparent path that the Sun traces out in the sky during the year. As it appears to move in the sky in relation to the stars, the apparent path aligns with the planets throughout the course of the year....
). As such, together with earlier interpretations of other constellations in the zodiac
Zodiac

Zodiac denotes an annual cycle of twelve stations along the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the heavens through the constellations that divide the ecliptic into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude....
 sign of libra
Libra (astrology)

Libra is the seventh astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the Libra . In western astrology, this sign is no longer aligned with the constellation as a result of the Precession ....
 (i.e. of Draco (constellation)
Draco (constellation)

Draco is a constellation in the far northern sky. Its name is Latin for dragon. Draco is circumpolar star for many observers in the northern hemisphere....
, Ursa Major
Ursa Major

Ursa Major is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin. It is dominated by the widely recognized asterism known as the Big Dipper or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures....
 and Ursa Minor
Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor is a constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for 'little bear', contrasting with Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 List of constellations....
 it may have formed the origin of the myth of the apples of the Hesperides
Hesperides

In Greek mythology, the Hesperides are nymphs who tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the Atlas mountains in Ancient Libya, or on a distant blessed island at the edge of the encircling Oceanus....
, which forms part of The Twelve Labours of Herakles.

Visualizations

Boötes can be described as looking like a large human figure, looking toward Ursa Major
Ursa Major

Ursa Major is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin. It is dominated by the widely recognized asterism known as the Big Dipper or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures....
.
Bootes Constellation Map Visualization
H.A. Rey has suggested an alternative way to visualize the herdsman, in which he is seated and smoking a pipe
Smoking pipe

A smoking pipe for tobacco smoking typically consists of a small chamber for the combustion of the tobacco to be smoked and a thin stem that ends in a mouthpiece ....
. The stars e Boo
Epsilon Boötis

Epsilon Bo?tis is a star in the constellation Bo?tes. It also has the traditional names Izar or Pulcherrima.Izar is actually a binary star, consisting of a bright orange giant and a smaller main sequence star....
, d Boo
Delta Boötis

Delta Bo?tis is a binary star in the constellation Bo?tes. It is approximately 117 light years from Earth.The primary component, d Bo?tis A, is a yellow stellar classification giant star with an apparent magnitude of +3.46....
, µ Boo
Mu Boötis

Mu Bo?tis is a triple star system in the constellation Bo?tes. It also has traditional names Alkalurops , and also has the Flamsteed designation 51 Bo?tis....
, ß Boo
Beta Boötis

Beta Bo?tis is a Variable star in the constellation Bo?tes.Beta Bo?tis is a yellow stellar classification giant star with an apparent magnitude of +3.49....
, ? Boo
Gamma Boötis

Gamma Bo?tis is a star in the constellation Bo?tes. It also has traditional names Seginus, Segin, Ceginus or Haris....
, ? Boo
Rho Boötis

Rho Bo?tis is a binary star in the constellation Bo?tes. It is approximately 149 light years from Earth.The primary component, ? Bo?tis A, is an orange stellar classification giant star with an apparent magnitude of +3.57....
, and s Boo
Sigma Boötis

Sigma Bo?tis is a star in the constellation Bo?tes.Sigma Bo?tis is a yellow-white stellar classification main sequence with an apparent magnitude of +4.47....
 form the herdsman's head. In addition, the stars d Boo, µ Boo, and ß Boo may be seen to form a cap. The stars ? Boo, ? Boo
Lambda Boötis

Lambda Bo?tis is a star in the constellation Bo?tes.Lambda Bo?tis is a white stellar classification main sequence with an apparent magnitude of +4.18....
, ? Boo
Theta Boötis

Theta Bo?tis is a star in the constellation Bo?tes. It also has the traditional name Asellus Primus and the Flamsteed designation 23 Bo?tis....
, and ? Boo
Kappa Boötis

Kappa Bo?tis is a star system in the constellation Bo?tes. It also has the traditional name Asellus Tertius and the Flamsteed designation 17 Bo?tis....
 form the herdsman's pipe. Star ? Boo is of the third magnitude and would be the herdsman's mouth. Stars e Boo, ? Boo
Zeta Boötis

Zeta Bo?tis is a bright speckle interferometry in the constellation of Bo?tes. It also has the Flamsteed designation 30 Bo?tis. It is approximately 181 light years from Earth and has a combined apparent magnitude of +3.78....
, and a Boo
Arcturus

|- bgcolor="#FFFAFA"| note : || H and K emission vary.Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation Bo?tes. With a visual magnitude of -0.05, it is also the list of brightest stars in the night sky, after Sirius and Canopus ....
 (Arcturus) form the herdsman's body. Star e Boo is of the third magnitude whereas Arcturus is of magnitude zero. Stars a Boo, ? Boo
Eta Boötis

Eta Bo?tis is a star in the constellation Bo?tes. It also has the traditional names Muphrid or Mufrid or Saak and the Flamsteed designation 8 Bo?tis....
 and ? Boo
Upsilon Boötis

Upsilon Bo?tis is a star in the constellation Bo?tes.Upsilon Bo?tis is an orange stellar classification giant star with an apparent magnitude of +4.05. It is approximately 245 light years from Earth....
 form the herdsman's leg, with ? Boo being the knee. Finally, stars ? Boo and t Boo
Tau Boötis

Tau Bo?tis is a yellow-white dwarf approximately 51 light-years away in the constellation of Bo?tes. The system is also a binary star system, with the secondary star being a red dwarf....
 form the herdsman's foot. Star ? Boo is of the third magnitude.

Named stars

See also: List of stars in Boötes
List of stars in Boötes

This is the list of notable stars in the constellation Bo?tes, sorted by decreasing brightness.See also*List of stars by constellation...
Bayer
Bayer designation

A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek alphabet, followed by the genitive case form of its parent constellation's Latin language name....
 		 Name Origin Meaning
? Arcturus
Arcturus

|- bgcolor="#FFFAFA"| note : || H and K emission vary.Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation Bo?tes. With a visual magnitude of -0.05, it is also the list of brightest stars in the night sky, after Sirius and Canopus ....
  		Greek Bear chaser
ß Nekkar Arabic constellation name
? Seginus Arabic name
e Izar
Izar

Izar may refer to:* Izar, a star, also known as Pulcherrima, also known as Epsilon Bo?tis* IZAR, Spanish shipbuilder; sold and renamed Navantia in 2005...
  		Arabic girdle
? Muphrid Arabic solitary one
µ Alkalurops Arabic herdsman's staff
h Merga Latin rake or hoe
? Nadlat Arabic little ones


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