Bootes

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann, Doris Vickers, Youla Azkarrula, IanRidpath

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Boötes star chart (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg)

Βοώτης (Boötes)

Asterism Info
Native	Βοώτης
Romanisation	Boötes
Translation	Ploughman
Position (2000)
Right ascension	206.8155757 to 232.73233169999997
Declination	13.72830463 to 51.85074367
Area	620.19 sq. deg.
Stars
Bright stars	85
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	43
Stars brighter than 3.00m	3
Brightest star	Arcturus (Ἀρκτοῦρος) (–0.05m)
Taxonomy
category of asterism	Almagest constellation
IAU- constellations	Boötes, Boo

One of the 88 IAU constellations. “Boötes” is not a proper name, but it term is sometimes used as if it was because there is always the question of the correct translation: some say “bear keeper” and others “ox driver.” Both are correct. One refers to the Greek constellations, the other to the Roman asterisms. At the same time, both are incorrect, because the Greek word βοώτηϛ means “ploughman.”

Etymology and History

Origin of Constellation

The word “Boötes” is used by Aratus, Hipparchus, and Ptolemy. Eratosthenes, however, calls the constellation “Arktophylakos,” bear keeper.

Eratosthenes explains that the bear keeper is Arkas, a son of Zeus who grew up among shepherds. The word bear keeper refers to its proximity to the Greek constellation Ursa Major, which he guards. In Roman times, however, its seven brightest stars were interpreted as seven oxen driven by the ox driver.

What seems particularly unusual to the modern observer is that the brightest star in the area does not belong to the figure of Boötes: the anthropomorphic figure is formed by weaker stars of 2.5 to 4 mag – the brightest star stands incongruously between the legs of this figure and is called Arcturus, the guardian or watchman. In Greek, therefore, the star's name fits the figure.

Babylonian

Whether this was also the case in Babylonian culture cannot be said with certainty. In MUL.APIN, each constellation is assigned a deity, and in this region of the sky, the untranslatable word ŠU.PA is found. Perhaps it is derived from the Akkadian word for “bright” and refers to Arcturus, or perhaps it refers to a group of stars in the area. The star is associated with Enlil, the god of agriculture. His attributes include the wagon or cart and the plow, which orbit in the circumpolar region.

It is therefore conceivable that the Babylonian god, who can be seen as a shepherd or plowman, was a model for the Greek Boötes. However, the evidence for this is indirect.

see

• Enlil, ^dEn-lil₂
• ŠU.PA

Greco-Roman

Aratos

[91] Behind Helice there comes, like a man driving, Arctophylax, whom men call Boötes, because he is seen to be just touching the Wagon-Bear. All of him is very conspicuous; below his belt circles Arcturus itself, a star distinct from the rest.

[580?] No longer great on both sides of the horizon is Arctophylax but only the lesser portion is visible, while the greater part is wrapt in night. For with four signs of the Zodiac Boötes sets and is received in the bosom of ocean; and when he is sated with the light he takes till past midnight in the loosing of this oxen, in the season when he sets with the sinking sun. Those nights are named after his late setting. So these stars are setting, but another, facing them, no dim star, even Orion with glittering belt and shining shoulders and trusting in the might of his sword, and brining all the River, rises from the other horn, the East.

[607] Nor can the rising Claws [Libra], though faintly shining, pass unremarked, when at a bound the mighty sign of Boötes rises, jeweled with Arcturus.

(Kidd 1997)

Eratosthenes

Pamias and Zucker (2013, 25-27).

Var. 1: It is said that this was Arcas, the son of Zeus and Callisto; he lived near the sanctuary of Lycaion, where Zeus had raped his mother. Pretending nothing was amiss, Lycaon invited Zeus into his home, as Hesiod recounts, cut up the infant and served him at the table. In response, Zeus overturned the table—hence the name of the city of Trebizond—struck his host’s house with a thunderbolt and transformed him into a wild beast, turning him into a wolf. Then he reshaped Arcas and fully restored his body; he was raised by a goatherd. Apparently, Arcas, having grown into a young man, entered the sanctuary of Lycaion and, without realising it, lay with his mother. The local inhabitants were about to sacrifice them both in accordance with the law, when they were taken away by Zeus, because of the bond that united them to him, and raised up among the constellations.

Boötes has four stars on his right hand that never set, one bright star on his head, one bright star on each shoulder, one on each nipple, one bright star on his right elbow, and one between his knees.

Var. 2: It is said that this was Arcas, the son of Zeus and Callisto; Lycaon invited Zeus to his home and, after butchering Arcas, served him at the table. In response, Zeus overturned the table—hence the name of the city of Trebizond—and, revolted by Lycaon’s cruelty, struck his house with a thunderbolt. Then he reassembled Arcas and fully restored his body, raising him up among the constellations.

Boötes has four stars on his right hand, which never set, one bright star on his head, one bright star on each shoulder, one on each nipple—the right one is bright and below it there is a dim star—, one bright star on his right elbow, a very bright one, called “Arcturus”, between his knees, and one bright star on each foot. Fourteen in all. (Pamias and Zucker 2013)

erat.Cat.ID	constStarID	starName	ident.Bayer	ident.HIP	certainty																																																																																																			Hipparchus Rising (Lib II Cap V §1) The Rising of ... east south lam1 lam2 lam1 lam2 Vir 1 Vir 27 Tau 26 1/2 Gem 27 star the one in the head the one in the right foot duration 2 hours = 120 min = 30 degree Setting (Lib II Cap VI §1) west south lam1 lam2 lam1 lam2 Sco 6 Cap 18 1/2 Cap 22 Ari 4 star the southernmost of the those in the left foot the northernmost of those in the club duration 4 2/3 hours = 280 min = 70° Stars Mentioned Greek German English ident. src lam_culm Lib II Cap V §10 rising, east, first Lib II Cap V §10 rising, east, last Lib II Cap VI §2 setting CrB, south, last Psc 13.5 Lib II Cap VI §13 setting Aql, south, first Ari 2 Lib III Cap I §9 rising Ori, south, last Psc 13 Hyginus, Astronomica He is said to be Arcas, the son of Jove and Callisto, whom Lycaon served at a banquet, cut up with other meat, when Jupiter came to him as a guest. For Lycaon wanted to know whether the one who had asked for his hospitality was a god or not. For this deed he was punished by no slight punishment, for Jupiter, quickly overturning the table, burned the house with a thunderbolt, and turned Lycaon himself into a wolf. But the scattered limbs of the boy he put together, and gave him to a certain Aitolian to care for. When, grown to manhood, he was hunting in the woods, he saw his mother changed to bear form, and did not recognize her. Intent on killing her, he chased her into the temple of Jove Lycaeus, where the penalty for entering is death, according to Arcadian law. And so, since both would have to die, Jupiter, out of pity, snatched them up and put them among the stars, as I have said before. As a result, Arcas is seen following the Bear, and since he guards Arctos, he is called Arctophylax. Some have said that he is Icarus, father of Erigone, to whom, on account of his justice and piety, Father Liber gave wine, the vine, and the grape, so that he could show men how to plant the vine, what would grow from it, and how to use what was produced. When he had planted the vine, and by careful tending with a pruning-knife had made it flourish, a goat is said to have broken into the vineyard, and nibbled the tenderest leaves he saw there. Icarus, angered by this, took him and killed him and from his skin made a sack, and blowing it up, bound it tight, and cast it among his friends, directing them to dance around it. And so Eratosthenes says: Around the goat of Icarus they first danced. Others say that Icarus, when he had received the wine from Father Liber, straightway put full wineskins on a wagon. For this he was called Boötes. When he showed it to the shepherds on going round through the Attic country, some of them, greedy and attracted by the new kind of drink, became stupefied, and sprawling here and there, as if half-dead, kept uttering unseemly things. The others, thinking poison had been given the shepherds by Icarus, so that he could drive their flocks into his own territory, killed him, and threw him into a well, or, as others say, buried him near a certain tree. However, when those who had fallen asleep, woke up, saying that they had never rested better, and kept asking for Icarus in order to reward him, his murderers, stirred by conscience, at once took to flight and came to the island of the Ceans. Received there as guests, they established homes for themselves. But when Erigone, the daughter of Icarus, moved by longing for her father, saw he did not return and was on the point of going out to hunt for him, the dog of Icarus, Maera by name, returned to her, howling as if lamenting the death of its master. It gave her no slight suspicion of murder, for the timid girl would naturally suspect her father had been killed since he had been gone so many months and days. But the dog, taking hold of her dress with its teeth, led her to the body. As soon as the girl saw it, abandoning hope, and overcome with loneliness and poverty, with many tearful lamentations she brought death on herself by hanging from the very tree beneath which her father was buried. And the dog made atonement for her death by its own life. Some say that it cast itself into the well, Anigrus by name. For this reason they repeat the story that no one afterward drank from that well. Jupiter, pitying their misfortune, represented their forms among the stars. And so many have called Icarus, Boötes, and Erigone, the Virgin, about whom we shall speak later. The dog, however, from its own name and likeness, they have called Canicula. It is called Procyon by the Greeks, because it rises before the greater Dog. Others say these were pictured among the stars by Father Liber. In the meantime in the district of the Athenians many girls without cause committed suicide by hanging, because Erigone, in dying, had prayed that Athenian girls should meet the same kind of death she was to suffer if the Athenians did not investigate the death of Icarus and avenge it. And so when these things happened as described, Apollo gave oracular response to them when they consulted him, saying that they should appease Erigone if they wanted to be free from the affliction. So since she hanged herself, they instituted a practice of swinging themselves on ropes with bars of wood attached, so that the one hanging could be moved by the wind. They instituted this as a solemn ceremony, and they perform it both privately and publicly, and call it aletis, aptly terming her mendicant who, unknown and lonely, sought for her father with the god. The Greeks call such people aletides. In addition to this, Canicula, rising with its heat, scorched the land of the Ceans, and robbed their fields of produce, and caused the inhabitants, since they had welcomed the bandits, to be plagued by sickness, and to pay the penalty to Icarus with suffering. Their king, Aristaeus, son of Apollo and Cyrene, and father of Actaeon, asked his father by what means he could free the state from affliction. The god bade them expiate the death of Icarus with many victims, and ask from Jove that when Canicula rises he should send wind for forty days to temper the heat of Canicula. This command Aristaeus carried out, and obtained from Jove the favour that the Etesian winds should blow. Some have called them Etesian because they spring up at a certain time each year, for etos in Greek is annus in Latin. Some, too, have called them Etesian because they were "asked for" from Jove, and so obtained. But we shall leave this undecided, lest we be though to have anticipated everything. To return to the matter at hand, Hermippus, who wrote about the stars, says that Ceres lay with Iasion, son of Thuscus. Many agree with Homer that for this he was struck with a thunderbolt. From them, as Petellides, Cretan writer of histories, shows, two sons were born, Philomelus and Plutus, who were never on good terms, for Plutus, who was richer, gave nothing of his wealth to his brother. Philomelus, however, compelled by necessity, bought two oxen with what he had, and became the inventor of the wagon. So, by plowing and cultivating the fields, he supported himself. His mother, admiring his invention, represented him plowing among the stars, and called him Boötes. From him they say Parias was born, who called the people Parians and the town Parion from his own name. (Mary Ward 1960) Geminos Almagest Boώτης id Greek (Heiberg 1898) English (Toomer 1984) ident. Βοώτου ἀστερισμός. Constellation of Boötes 1 τῶν ἐν τῇ ἀριστερᾷ χειρὶ γ’ ὁ προηγούμενος. The most advanced of the three in the left arm kap Boo 2 ὁ μέσος καὶ νοτιώτερος τῶν τριῶν The middle and southernmost of the three iot Boo 3 ὁ ἑπόμευος τῶν τριῶν. The rearmost of the three tet Boo 4 ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀριστεροῦ ἀγκῶνος. The star on the left elbow lam Boo 5 ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀριστεροῦ ὥμου The star on the left shoulder gam Boo 6 ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς: The star on the head bet Boo 7 ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ δεξιοῦ ὥμου The star on the right shoulder del Boo 8 ὁ βορειότερος αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ κολλορόβου The one to the north of these, on the staff mu Boo 9 ὁ ἔτι τούτου βορειότερος ἐπ’ ἄκρου τοῦ κολλορόβου. The one farther to the north again of this, on the tip of the staff nu Boo 10 τῶν ὑποκάτω τοῦ ὤμου ἐν τῷ ῥοπάλῳ β ὁ βορειότερος. The northernmost of the two stars below the shoulder, in the club eta Boo 11 ὁ νοτιώτερος αὐτῶν. The southernmost of them omi Boo 12 ὁ ἐπ’ ἄκρας τῆς δεξιᾶς χειρός The star on the end of the right arm 45 Boo 13 ὁ τῶν ἐν τῷ καρπῷ δύο ὁ ἠγούμενος The more advanced of the two stars in the wrist psi Boo 14 ὁ ἐπόμενος αὐτῶν The rearmost of them 46 Boo 15 ὁ ἐπ’ ἄκρας τῆς λαβῆς τοῦ κολλορόβου. The star on the end of the handle of the staff omega Boo 16 ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ δεξιοῦ μηροῦ ἐν τῷ περιξώματι The star on the right thigh, in the apron eps Boo 17 τῶν ἐν τῇ ζώνῃ δύο ὁ ἐπόμευος. The rearmost of the two stars in the belt sig Boo 18 ὁ προηφούμενος αὐτῶν. The rearmost of the two stars in the belt rho Boo 19 ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς δεξιᾶς πτέρυης The star on the right heel zet Boo 20 τῶν ἐν τῇ ἀριστερᾷ κυήμῃ ἡ’ ὁ βόρειος The northernmost of the 3 stars in the left lower leg eta Boo 21 ὁ μέσος τῶν τριῶν The middle one of the three tau Boo 22 ὁ φότιος αὐτῶν. The southernmost of them ups Boo ἀστέρες κβ, ὥν γ μεγέθους ὅ, δ’ ὅ, ε θ. 22 stars, 4 of the third magnitude, 9 of the fourth, 9 of the fifth Ὁ ὑπ’ αὐτὸν ἀμόρφωτος. Star under [Bootes] outside the constellation: 23 ὁ μεταξὺ τῶν μηρῶν ὁ καλούμενος Ἀρκτοῦρος ὑπόκιρρος The star between the thighs, called 'Arcturus', reddish alf Boo ἀστὴρ α μεγέθους α' 1 star of the first magnitude Convex Hull for the stars inside Bootes (CC BY Youla Azkarrula). Stars within the Constellation Area id Label IAU design. description Vmag 1 Arcturus HIP 69673 Inside the hull -0.05 2 Izar HIP 72105 Constellation lines 2.45 3 Muphrid HIP 67927 Constellation lines 2.68 4 Seginus HIP 71075 Constellation lines 3.02 5 δ Boötis HIP 74666 Constellation lines 3.49 6 Nekkar HIP 73555 Constellation lines 3.52 7 ρ Boötis HIP 71053 Constellation lines 3.59 8 ζ Boötis HIP 71795 Constellation lines (Vertex) 3.78 9 θ Boötis HIP 70497 Constellation lines (Vertex) 4.05 10 υ Boötis HIP 67459 Constellation lines (Vertex) 4.07 11 Xuange HIP 69732 Constellation lines 4.18 12 Alkalurops HIP 75411 Constellation lines 4.31 13 σ Boötis HIP 71284 Constellation lines 4.47 14 τ Boötis HIP 67275 Constellation lines (Vertex) 4.49 15 ψ Boötis HIP 73745 Constellation lines 4.55 16 ξ Boötis HIP 72659 Inside the hull 4.593 17 ο Boötis HIP 72125 Inside the hull 4.6 18 ι Boötis HIP 69713 Constellation lines 4.75 19 W Boo HIP 71995 Inside the hull 4.79 20 - HIP 69879 Inside the hull 4.796 21 * eps Boo B HR 5505 Inside the hull 4.801 22 ω Boötis HIP 73568 Constellation lines 4.81 23 12 Boo HIP 69226 Inside the hull 4.83 24 - HIP 70027 Inside the hull 4.85 25 π1 Boötis HIP 71762 Inside the hull 4.893 26 45 Boo HIP 73996 Constellation lines (Vertex) 4.93 27 9 Boo HIP 68103 Inside the hull 5 28 ν1 Boötis HIP 75973 Constellation lines (Vertex) 5.026 29 BY Boo HIP 69038 Inside the hull 5.28 30 33 Boo HIP 71618 Inside the hull 5.387 31 22 Boo HIP 70602 Inside the hull 5.394 32 - HIP 72582 Constellation lines 5.48 33 - HIP 73634 Inside the hull 5.513 34 - HIP 75257 Inside the hull 5.532 35 - HIP 70791 Inside the hull 5.58 36 40 Boo HIP 73369 Inside the hull 5.634 37 46 Boo HIP 74087 Constellation lines 5.669 38 7 Boo HIP 67787 Inside the hull 5.709 39 - HIP 71568 Inside the hull 5.721 40 - HIP 72012 Inside the hull 5.73 41 CH Boo HIP 71280 Inside the hull 5.74 42 10 Boo HIP 68276 Inside the hull 5.748 43 Merga HIP 72487 Inside the hull 5.757 44 * pi2 Boo HR 5476 Inside the hull 5.761 45 CY Boo HIP 69829 Inside the hull 5.8 46 - HIP 72552 Inside the hull 5.8 47 HP Boo HIP 72567 Inside the hull 5.867 48 26 Boo HIP 71115 Inside the hull 5.897 49 - HIP 71571 Inside the hull 5.91 50 V* CN Boo HR 5343 Inside the hull 5.957 51 - HIP 74561 Inside the hull 5.974 52 - HIP 71277 Inside the hull 5.999 53 - HIP 71094 Inside the hull 6 54 DE Boo HIP 72848 Inside the hull 6 55 - HIP 70892 Inside the hull 6.05 56 - HIP 73068 Inside the hull 6.122 57 - HIP 69316 Inside the hull 6.129 58 - HIP 74571 Inside the hull 6.13 59 - HIP 72469 Inside the hull 6.13 60 - HIP 72139 Inside the hull 6.145 61 - HIP 71729 Inside the hull 6.15 62 - HIP 74514 Inside the hull 6.187 63 - HIP 69818 Inside the hull 6.195 64 - HIP 70762 Inside the hull 6.2 65 - HIP 71490 Inside the hull 6.2 66 - HIP 70310 Inside the hull 6.2 67 11 Boo HIP 68478 Inside the hull 6.221 68 - HIP 69569 Inside the hull 6.227 69 - HIP 70517 Inside the hull 6.28 70 - HIP 72124 Inside the hull 6.28 71 - HIP 71243 Inside the hull 6.306 72 - HIP 70029 Inside the hull 6.31 73 - HIP 69862 Inside the hull 6.316 74 - HIP 73941 Inside the hull 6.351 75 - HIP 70873 Inside the hull 6.36 76 - HIP 71406 Inside the hull 6.37 77 - HIP 69735 Inside the hull 6.376 78 - HIP 69592 Inside the hull 6.377 79 - HIP 68516 Inside the hull 6.384 80 - HIP 71168 Inside the hull 6.39 81 - HIP 71857 Inside the hull 6.4 82 - HR 5346 Inside the hull 6.41 83 - HIP 70385 Inside the hull 6.41 84 - HIP 70051 Inside the hull 6.445 85 kap1 Boo HIP 69481 Constellation lines (Vertex) 6.69 Mediaeval, Renaissance and Early Modern Source Alfonsine Tables (1483) In 1483 the printer Erhard Ratdolt, working in Venice, published Tabulae Alphonsinae or the Alphonsine Tables, a compilation of astronomical data tabulating the positions and movements of the planets. Dürer (1515) The pair of celestial maps created by Albrecht Dürer in 1515, one showing the Northern Hemisphere sky and the other the Southern Hemisphere sky, are generally regarded as the first printed star charts published in Europe. Schickard wrote it ... . Bayer and de Houtman (1603) In his Uranometria, Bayer gives all the name alternatives mentioned above: Rudolphine Tables (1627) Boo in the Rudolphine Tables (Kepler 1627). The Tabulae Rudolphinae were ordered and dedicated to Emperor Rudolph II of the Holy Roman Empire. The main purpose was to allow the computation of the positions of the five classically known planets, but the tables also consist of a star catalogue. They were published by Johannes Kepler (1627), including earlier work and observational data by Tycho Brahe. The original Latin title is "Tabulæ Rudolphinæ, Quibus Astronomicæ Scientiæ, Temporum longinquitate collapsæ Restauratio continetur". Kepler uses the standard Latin name "Boötes" for the constellation but includes the proper name "Arctophylax" as a variant. Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation (1952) H.A. Rey's stick figure of Boötes (1988) O. Hlad's stick figure of Boötes Mythology Eratosthenes reports that Arkas was the son of Zeus and Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon. After the birth, Lycaon is said to have invited Zeus to a feast, at which he served him the dismembered newborn. Zeus was horrified, overturned the table, destroyed the palace with a thunderbolt, put the boy back together, gave him a beautiful form, and had him raised among shepherds. When the young man, unaware of his origins, wanted to marry his mother and was therefore to be sacrificed according to the law, Zeus saved him once again. He carried him up to the stars.   In another version of the legend, mythographers report that Arkas' mother Callisto was transformed into a bear: either by Artemis, who punished her for not remaining a virgin until initiation, or by her suitor Zeus, to protect her from the revenge of his wife Hera, or by Hera herself, who wanted revenge. Whatever the reason, as a young man, Arkas encountered the bear and did not recognize his mother. He hunted her until she fled to the temple of Zeus. Since it was forbidden to enter, the situation gave Zeus the opportunity to transport both of them to the heavens. Weblinks Warburg Institute Iconographic Database – Boötes Ian Ridpath's Star Tales – Boötes References References (general) References (Babylonian) References (ancient Greco-Roman) References (medieval)