Night Sky

Boötes

As discussed here last week, Boötes is a large constellation near the end of the handle to the asterism popularly know as the Big Dipper and easily observed during the Spring in the northern hemisphere. Boötes has five stars with known planets and the brightest star in the constellation is Arcturus (Alpha Boötis), the third brightest star in the night sky.

Arcturus is an orange giant, with an unusual spectrum of light and is 36.7 light years away from the earth. Boötes is traditionally depicted as a herdsman with two hunting dogs on a leash and a club in his other hand. In the sky, Boötes follows Ursa Major around the pole. In one story, the constellation represents a ploughman driving the oxen in the Ursa Major constellation, followed by his two dogs, Asterion and Chara (represented by the constellation Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs). The ploughman’s oxen are tied to the polar axis and their movement keeps the skies in constant rotation.

The constellation also contains an asterism popularly known either as the Kite or Ice Cream Cone, with Arcturus being the tail of the kite or bottom of the cone.