Talk:Boötes

Pronunciation

Can someone insert the International Phonetic Alphabet pronunciation down please? Thanks, Matt 24.132.30.91 (talk) 15:58, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Bootes 2600:100F:B12C:665B:A832:28FC:4522:97B6 (talk) 06:37, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

Is the diaeresis in Boötes part of the official IAU nomenclature? If so, shouldn't this article be at that spelling? Psmith 10:36, 28 Nov 2003 (UTC)

It's not according to Names of Constellations on IAU. If I remember correctly, it's a transcription from Greek, and transcriptions usually are ambiguous. The diaeresis is supposed to prevent people from eliding the second "o" when pronouncing the word. It has three syllables. However this is my mere theory. – Torsten Bronger 11:28, 28 Nov 2003 (UTC)

The diaresis is included in the official list of names on this page, although not on the accompanying chart

https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/ Skeptic2 (talk) 09:24, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

Star Charts

I must remark, the star charts for the constellations are beautiful... Ed Sanville 15:38, 8 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Deep sky objects

"The one deep sky object in Boötes is NGC 5466" This is misleading. It implies that (a) Boötes has exactly one deep sky object, and (2) that there is an authority somewhere who points at objects and says "yes, that is a deep sky object", and "no, that one is not". I have revised the wording to make this phrase less misleading. --B.d.mills 09:18, 15 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Arcturus

" It is a zero magnitude red giant and is the third brightest star as seen from Earth in the night sky"

Is it worth pointing out that Arcturus appears to the naked eye as only the 4th brightest star in the night sky, rather than the 3rd?

Alpha Centauri A and B are too close to each other for the naked eye to resolve them as separate stars, even when they are furthest from each other in their orbits, and the human eye percieves them as a single star, with an apparent magnitude of around -0.27, 0.23 magnitudes brighter than Arcturus (nearly 25% brighter). Richard B 14:35, 12 October 2005 (UTC)

Corrected since long obviously. Said: Rursus 15:00, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Graphic visualization

What is the purpose of this section? As far as I can tell, this is just someone's idea of another way to see the constellation Bootes and Canes Venatici. I can't find and historical account or mythology or any other source that views Bootes as a "herdsman with a pipe" specifically. I believe this section should either be deleted or explain why the alternate "connet-the-dots" view described here as such. Tahlana 19:16, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Reverted

Reverted edit by 72.235.157.252, 66.166.186.57, 24.205.54.224, 68.164.68.244, identified as vandalism to last revision by SieBot.--Bay Flam 06:17, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

January bootids

The template mentions both the January bootids (non-existing article) and the Quadrantids. I suspect these meteor showers are identical. Is that correct? /129.142.71.166 (talk) 14:15, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

HD 132406 Star

I can see that there is a section in the article for the named stars in the constellation, but I think we should include names of all the stars, including HD 132406. 71.58.29.180 (talk) 00:11, 4 December 2008

The 'named stars' section can only include stars that has proper names like Arcturus, Sirius, Vega, etc. HD 132406 is only a designation, and should not include stars without proper names. However, we could make a section 'planetary systems' and can include this star, since this star has a planet. BlueEarth (talk | contribs) 00:44, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Organization of stars

Right - I guess the next question is leaving the stars organised by spectral type or rejigging to doubles and variables.....or what? I have the Wagman book which can place star depictions on the constellation which breaks up the listy aspect of it. I haven't added it yet till we get the layout fixed. Cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 02:39, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Hmm, I initially organized it by spectral type...but I'm not sure why. I did single bright/doubles/variables/single faint with Auriga and really liked it. I'm still finishing the meteor showers, once I've done that I can shift the stars section around. I don't have access to Wagman as far as I can tell, at least, not without a trek across the city/waiting for an interlibrary loan, so I'd appreciate it if you could add that stuff. :) I have a bunch of sources that will hopefully help with the deep-sky objects - take a gander at User:Keilana/Boo checklist and see if there's anything else we need? I also made User:Keilana/Constellation resources to collate everything in one place. Feel free to add more if that helps! Yay, Keilana|^{Parlez ici} 03:09, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Never mind - I will read it again to get familiar with the stars and get wagman in - will tweak and alert when done. Casliber (talk · contribs) 05:07, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Sounds good, thanks! Keilana|^{Parlez ici} 13:41, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Update

Right - a bit of distance in space and time and some dabbling in other constellation articles.....{u|Keilana}} I think I'm gonna have a play with this - then it can be co-nommed for GA if you want. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 08:34, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

File:Sidney Hall - Urania's Mirror - Bootes, Canes Venatici, Coma Berenices, and Quadrans Muralis.jpg to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Sidney Hall - Urania's Mirror - Bootes, Canes Venatici, Coma Berenices, and Quadrans Muralis.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on June 28, 2017. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2017-06-28. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 02:43, 14 June 2017 (UTC)

Picture of the day

The constellation Boötes ('the plowman') as depicted in Urania's Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c. 1825. In his left hand Boötes holds his hunting dogs, Canes Venatici. Below them is the constellation Coma Berenices, named after the hair of Berenice II of Egypt. Above Boötes' head is the now obsolete constellation Quadrans Muralis; another obsolete constellation, Mons Maenalus, can be seen at his feet.Illustration: Sidney Hall; restoration: Adam Cuerden

The ULAS J1342+0928 Quasar

The wiki entry for ULAS J1342+0928 says it is a quasar located in the Boötes constellation. Should this quasar be mentioned here on the Boötes page? J Mark Morris (talk) 19:33, 29 June 2019 (UTC)

Possibly, possibly not. The article only mentions the more notable objects within the constellation. There is a category which lets you find every article (assuming they are categorised correctly) and templates that let you quickly go from one object to another within Boötes. Lithopsian (talk) 13:58, 30 June 2019 (UTC)

Proposed image addition: Annotated wide-field photograph of Boötes

Hello, I am affiliated with NSF NOIRLab and would like to propose the following change for community review. This is an additive proposal: the existing naked-eye constellation photograph (File:BootesCC.jpg) would remain exactly where it is, untouched. The annotated image would be placed immediately above it in the same section, so that readers have access to both a visual-impression photograph and an identification-reference chart.

• Proposed change: Add an annotated wide-field photograph of Boötes to the "Features" section, immediately above the existing naked-eye image.
• Image: File:Boötes (Annotated) (bootes-ann).tiff
• Suggested caption: The constellation Boötes showing the IAU boundaries, the constellation stick figure, and labels for its brightest stars. Astrophotograph by Eckhard Slawik, from NOIRLab's 88 Constellations project.
• Placement: "Features" section, left-aligned, immediately above the existing File:BootesCC.jpg.
• Justification: The article currently has one naked-eye photograph of the constellation field. The annotated image serves a different and complementary purpose: it marks the IAU boundary lines, overlays the stick figure, and labels the brightest stars, helping readers identify the constellation's structure in the sky. The "Features" section has extensive prose across multiple subsections, so two images will not create visual imbalance.
• License: CC BY 4.0 (NOIRLab/NSF/AURA), hosted on Wikimedia Commons.

The exact wikitext to insert immediately above the existing naked-eye image line in the "Features" section is:

The constellation Boötes showing the IAU boundaries, the constellation stick figure, and labels for its brightest stars. Astrophotograph by Eckhard Slawik, from NOIRLab's 88 Constellations project.

I am happy to adjust the caption wording if reviewers prefer different phrasing. If the community would rather have the NOIRLab project link placed in a <ref> citation instead of as an inline external link in the caption, I am glad to revise accordingly. If the community prefers the article as it currently stands without this addition, I will withdraw the proposal. Thank you for your time. Marcodatadev (talk) 22:50, 17 April 2026 (UTC)

Done DiscoursesonLivvy (talk · contribs) 02:03, 18 April 2026 (UTC)

CORRECTION REQUIRED: Note that the label Cerpens Caput needs correcting to Serpens Caput. And it would be useful to change Bootes to Boötes for consistency with the entry. Skeptic2 (talk) 07:30, 18 April 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for catching that, Skeptic2. Regarding both points:

1. Cerpens Caput → Serpens Caput: The typo was present in the original image as published by NOIRLab. It has been corrected with a new file (File:Bootes-ann.tif). I have uploaded this new file on Wikimedia Commons with the corrected version, so the label now reads "Serpens Caput" as it should.(Also updated in the article)
2. Bootes → Boötes: You are right that the diaeresis would be more consistent with the article title. However, the label text on the image itself is produced by NOIRLab's image team, and I do not have the ability to modify it directly. I will raise this with the image creator, but please note this may take some time. I will report back here once I have an update.

Thank you again for your review. Marcodatadev (talk) 11:55, 18 April 2026 (UTC)

Thank you! Please see also my comment about a typo on another image on your Talk page. Skeptic2 (talk) 18:42, 18 April 2026 (UTC)