The Heavenly Herdsman

The name Bootes (boh-OH-teez) is believed to derive from ancient Greek words for ox and driver. Translation into other languages rendered ox-driver as herdsman, and so we’ve come to know this prominent spring constellation as Bootes the Herdsman.

You won’t find the Herdsman’s oxen in the sky. He was, however, associated with the nearby Big Dipper, what the Greeks called “the wagon.” It is this wagon that was reportedly being pulled by Bootes’ celestial oxen.

In a number of classical star atlases, Bootes is depicted as holding the leashes of a pair of hunting dogs: the constellation known as Canes Venatici (KAY-neez vee-NATT-uh-sigh). The hunting dogs are straining at the end of their leashes as they pursue nearby Ursa Major (ER-suh), the Big Bear. The Big Dipper is the central asterism (recognizable star pattern) in the constellation of Ursa Major.

Bootes and the Hunting Dogs in John Flamsteed's 1729 star atlas
Courtesy of Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology

During spring and summer, when Bootes is prominent in the sky, you’ll notice that he and his dogs, well, dog the Big Bear across the sky as it circles the North Star counterclockwise. The Big Bear is one of the circumpolar constellations, which means it circles the North Celestial Pole, the imaginary fixed point in the sky that the Earth's axis would intersect, were it extended northward. The North Star, Polaris, just happens to lie at the North Celestial Pole, which is why the circumpolar constellations appear to circle the North Star.

Let’s follow the herd.

1) About an hour after your local sunset time, face south. If you don’t know the cardinal directions at your location and you don’t have a compass, make note of where the sun sets on the horizon. That spot is approximately west. Stand with your right shoulder to the west, and you’ll be facing approximately south.

Arc to Arcturus
Star maps created with Your Sky

2) Tilt your head all the way back and look up at the zenith, the point directly overhead. Locate the Big Dipper, a little north of the zenith. Following the curve of its handle, arc to Arcturus, the brightest star in Bootes.

Big and brilliant, the orange giant star Arcturus is 25 times the diameter of our Sun and 113 times as luminous. Arcturus is Greek for guardian of the bear, a reference to the star’s ancient association with— and apparent trailing of— neighboring Ursa Major. Can you discern its golden or copper hue?

3) Now that you’ve found Arcturus, you can trace out one of my favorite asterisms: the Ice Cream Cone. I’ve a profound weakness for ice cream, so locating this delicious asterism is a sort of guilt-free indulgence.

Ice Cream Cone asterism in Bootes

Most of the bright stars in Bootes form the Ice Cream Cone. Arcturus is the bottom of the pointed cone. Moving north from the point, you’ll come to two stars that form the top of the cone. The one on the left (east) is the orange giant Izar, the second brightest star in Bootes. Izar (EYE-zahr) is from the Arabic for loin cloth. The one on the right (west) has no traditional name, so we call it Rho (ROE) for its star catalog designation. Like Arcturus and Izar, Rho is an orange giant star.

4) Continuing north, we are rewarded with a mound of sweet, cold confection bounded by the stars Delta, Nekkar, and Seginus, moving from east to west. Delta is the star catalog designation for this yellow giant with no traditional name. Nekkar (NECK-ahr) is from the Arabic for ox-driver. Nekkar is another yellow giant star.

Did you ever play the group game “Telephone” when you were a kid? The first kid in a line or circle of kids would whisper a phrase to the kid next to him. That kid would whisper it to the next kid, and so on. The last kid would say out loud the phrase she’d heard. By the time it got to the end of the line, the phrase was invariably garbled, sometimes beyond recognition.

That’s sort of what happened with our third ice-cream-mound star, the white giant Seginus. Believe it or not, the name Seginus (segg-EEN-uss) started out as the Greek name Bootes! It was first mangled in translation by the Arabs. Then the Arabic wrong name was corrupted again by the Romans into a Latinized form. So the name that filtered down into modern times, Seginus, is pretty much meaningless.

Except of course to us, because we know it’s just Telephonese for ox-driver.






Astronomy Essential: Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe.

Hydrogen is estimated to make up a whopping 75% of the visible matter in the universe.

Hydrogen is the simplest chemical element. A hydrogen atom is composed of just one proton at the nucleus (core) and one electron in orbit around the nucleus. A proton is a particle with a positive electrical charge, while an electron is a particle with a negative electrical charge.

Stable hydrogen nuclei are believed to have formed only three minutes after the Big Bang. It took another 700,000 years or so for the nuclei to collect their electrons and become stable atoms. Hydrogen was the most abundant element in the universe back then, too.

Hydrogen is the fuel that powers stars. Hydrogen burns into helium in the cores of stars, and this nuclear reaction produces energy in the form of heat and light.

After oxygen and carbon, hydrogen is the third most common element in the human body. It is a primary component of water, and our bodies are composed of more than 50% water. Without hydrogen, human life as we know it could not exist.

Follow the Drinking Gourd

Two weeks ago, we used the most famous star pattern in the night sky to locate an exceptional deep-sky object that lies outside our Milky Way galaxy. This week, let’s return to our galactic ‘hood and take a closer look at the notable star pattern we call the Big Dipper.

Known to every child in the Northern Hemisphere, the Big Dipper may be the most ancient of all star patterns recognized and recorded by humans. The Big Dipper is not a constellation, as many believe. The Big Dipper is the central asterism (recognizable star pattern) in the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear.

Ursa Major is a circumpolar constellation. In the Northern Hemisphere, a circumpolar constellation is one that circles the North Celestial Pole, the imaginary fixed point in the sky that the Earth‘s axis would intersect, were it extended from the North Pole into space. That imaginary point just happens to be extremely close to the star Polaris, which is why we call Polaris the North Star. We can use the Big Dipper to locate the North Star and geographic north; more on that in a minute.

Diagram of celestial poles by Dr. Guy Worthey

For skywatchers in latitudes above 35 degrees north, circumpolar constellations never set; they are always above the horizon as they endlessly circle the North Star counterclockwise, making one revolution per day. But although we commonly say they are "circling," constellations like Ursa Major are not really moving around the Pole. Their apparent motion--or the way they appear to move in our sky--is actually caused by our rotation, as planet Earth reliably spins 24/7 on its axis.

The Big Dipper’s proximity to the North Star has made it a favorite of travelers and navigators throughout history--a reliable guide in the night sky when plotting one’s course across land, water, or air. Let’s get oriented, shall we?

1) You’ll need to face north, so if you don’t know the cardinal directions at your location and you don’t have a compass, make note of where the sun sets on the horizon. That spot is approximately west. Stand with your left shoulder to the west, and you’ll be facing approximately north.

2) Wait at least one hour after sunset to begin observing, so that twilight’s over and your sky’s good and dark. A waxing (growing) crescent moon will be in the western sky after sunset through the weekend. First Quarter Moon, when the Moon’s face is half illuminated, occurs on Tuesday, June 10. The earlier in this observing week you look at the Dipper, the less interference you’ll have from moonlight. Or, if you’re a night owl, you can simply wait until the Moon sets.

3) Facing north, look for a distinctive seven-star asterism that looks like a giant, long-handled saucepan. It will be due north to a little west of north and somewhere between the zenith, the point directly above your head, and the northern horizon. The saucepan will be oriented upside-down. Found it? Great. This is the famous Big Dipper (water dipper), or as the French call it, “La Casserole” (saucepan).

Chart created with Your Sky

4) All seven stars of the Dipper are bright enough to be seen even in urban areas that are somewhat light polluted. In a future post, we’ll take a closer look at the individual stars.

5) Make a point of looking at the Big Dipper early in the evening and noting its orientation. Then look at it again before you turn in for the evening, or if you get up before sunrise, look at it again before dawn lights the sky. Do you see how its orientation has changed, how it has rotated counterclockwise and is approaching right-side-up? It’s exciting when you first realize how the stars above the North Pole will 'move' in a predictable, circular motion every night of the year, simply because we live on a spinning globe.

They are all ‘moving’ around the North Star. You can locate Polaris using the two stars on the right side of the right-side-up Dipper’s bowl. These two stars are called the pointer stars, because they point the way to Polaris.

Chart created with Your Sky

6) Draw an imaginary line connecting the two pointer stars. Then extend that line about five times its length, above the right-side-up Dipper. The first fairly bright star you come to is Polaris; it’s slightly dimmer than the top pointer star. Beginning stargazers are often surprised to learn that the North Star isn’t one of the brightest stars in the sky. Its importance to us is its location, not its magnitude of brightness. Now that you’ve found Polaris, face it square and you will be facing geographic north, also known as true north.

Our ability to recognize the Big Dipper enables us to reliably find north at night--without a compass, a map, location familiarity, or knowledge of where the sun set earlier. This is a celestial landmark that might even spell the difference between life and death, or captivity and freedom. According to American folklore, runaway slaves traveling under cover of night oriented to the Big Dipper and followed it north to freedom. They called it the “Drinking Gourd,” a reference to the hollowed-out gourd used in rural areas as a water dipper.

A hauntingly beautiful folk song of uncertain origin called “Follow the Drinking Gourd” may have been used by the Underground Railroad to provide coded directions in its lyrics, guiding the slaves to freedom. Click here to play an MP3 of “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” courtesy of Roger McGuinn’s Folk Den.

When the sun comes back and the first quail calls,
Follow the Drinking Gourd.
For the old man's waiting for to carry you to freedom,
If you follow the Drinking Gourd.

Reward notice for runaway slaves Harriet Tubman and her brothers