Bootes

Bootes is quite easy to find as this constellation is marked by the second brightest star in the sky, Arcturus, surpassed only by Sirius. Arcturus may be easily found once one knows where to look. It is now a little west of the zenith and shines with a reddish lustre. A straight line drawn through Alkaid and Mizar (the two stars at the end of the Great Dipper (Ursa Major) handle) will fall about 8 east of Arcturus. West of this star are three dim ernes forming a triangle, and east of it are three almost in line, while north of it, about ten degrees, are three others almost in line, the middle one being very dun. Still further toward the pole are three stars forming a triangle. No
star hi the constellation except Arcturus, is brighter than third magnitude.

Of the mythology of Bootes there are various versions ; but it is generally agreed that he is a huntsman chasing the two bears around the pole. He holds two dogs by a leash, one of which, Cor Coroli, about 12 southwest of Alkaid, is plainly visible.

Bootes can be easily distinguished by its peculiar kite-shaped grouping of stars or by the conspicuous pentagon (five-sided figure) of stars which it
contains. The most southerly star in this pentagon is known as Epsilon Bootes and is one of the finest double stars in the heavens. The two stars of which it consists are respectively orange and greenish-blue in color.

By far the finest object in Bootes, however, is the magnificent Arcturus, which is the brightest star in the northern hemisphere of the heavens. This star will be conspicuous in the evening hours throughout the
summer months, as will also the less brilliant Spica in Virgo.

Some recent measurements show that Arcturus is one of our nearer neighbors among the stars. Its distance is now estimated to be about twenty-one light-years. That is, a ray of light from this star takes twenty-one years to reach the earth, traveling at the rate of one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles per second. It would seem as if we should hardly speak of Arcturus, twenty-one light-years away, as a near neighbor, yet there are billions of stars that are far more distant from the earth, and very few that are nearer to us than Arcturus.

The brightness of Arcturus is estimated to be about forty times that of the sun. That is, if the two bodies were side by side, Arcturus would give forth forty times as much light and heat as the sun.

Arcturus is also one of the most rapidly moving stars in the heavens. In the past sixteen centuries it has traveled so far as to have changed its position among the other stars by as much as the apparent width of
the moon. Most of the stars, in spite of their motions through the heavens in various directions, appear today in the same relative positions in which they were several thousand years ago. It is for this reason that
the constellations of the Egyptians and of the Greeks and Romans are the same constellations that we see in the heavens today. Were all the stars as rapidly moving as Arcturus, the distinctive forms of the con-
stellations would be preserved for only a very few centuries.

Epsilon Bootes is widely considered one of the most attractive double stars in the sky. Discovered by F.G.W.Struve in 1829, he immediately dubbed it "Pulcherrima" Latin for "most beautiful" as a tribute to the 2.4 magnitude yellow orange star in company with a magnitude 5 blue star. This double star is often used as a test of observing skills and quality of instrument. Although not normally observable in scopes under 6 inches there are numerous reports of observations in telescopes as small as 2.5 inches.

NGC 5466 Is a moderately concentrated class VII globular cluster at magnitude 10.5. In 2006 a stellar stream was detected indicating this cluster may be the remains of a dwarf galaxy disrupted by an encounter with our Milky Way.

R Boo - A bright long period variable star who's range of variation (mag 6.7 - mag 12.8) is well within the range of 6 to 8inch scopes. At it brightest (maxima) it is accessible to all scopes and binoculars.