Bootes

Bootes, also called The Herdsman, is a relatively faint constellation outside of its primary star, Arcturus, the 4th brightest star in the sky. At its distance of only 37 light years, Arcturus is a red giant star, 25 times the diameter of Sol and it appears 100 times as bright as our sun, although its actual luminosity is about 210 times as bright because much of the radiation from this star is in the infrared portion of the spectrum. Arcturus is famous for having opened the Chicago World's Fair in 1934 by shining on a photoelectric cell. Arcturus is also one of the fastest moving stars in our sky, changing position by the width of the full moon every 800 years. Izar, the star forming the Herdsman's neck, is a binary system consisting of a main sequence star and a red giant 50 times the size of our sun. Muphrid, forming his knee, is also binary but little is known of this pair. I apologize for the fact that two faint stars representing the end of The Herdsman's pipe are off the top of the image. The brightest star in the upper right corner is Alkaid, the end of the Big Dipper's handle. Bootes is best seen in the spring and through mid-summer.