Boötes

Boötes (Gr. βοώτης, a ploughman, from βοῦς, an ox), a constellation of the northern hemisphere, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th century B.C.) and Aratus (3rd century B.C.), and perhaps alluded to in the book of Job (see Arcturus), and by Homer and Hesiod. The ancient Greeks symbolized it as a man walking, with his right hand grasping a club, and his left extending upwards and holding the leash of two dogs, which are apparently barking at the Great Bear. Ptolemy catalogues twenty-three stars, Tycho Brahe twenty-eight, Hevelius fifty-two. In addition to Arcturus, the brightest in the group, the most interesting stars of this constellation are: ε Boötis, a beautiful double star composed of a yellow star of magnitude 3, and a blue star of magnitude 6½; ξ Boötis, a double star composed of a yellow star, magnitude 4½, and a purple star, magnitude 6½; and W. Boötis, an irregularly variable star. This constellation has been known by many other names—Arcas, Arctophylax, Arcturus minor, Bubuleus, Bubulus, Canis latrans, Clamator, Icarus, Lycaon, Philometus, Plaustri custos, Plorans, Thegnis, Vociferator; the Arabs termed it Aramech or Archamech; Hesychius named it Orion; Jules Schiller, St Sylvester; Schickard, Nimrod; and Weigelius, the Three Swedish Crowns.

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