How to find Boötes
When to look
April, May, June, July evenings
Face east, then high in the south
A tall kite of stars with bright orange Arcturus at its tail. Follow the curve of the Big Dipper's handle: arc to Arcturus. Spring and summer evenings: east after dark in April, high in the south in June, sinking in the west by September. The drawing below is made from the real positions of its 7 stars, as the sky looks when you face it, with bigger dots for brighter stars. No telescope needed.
Boötes looks like a kite. The bright orange star at the bottom is Arcturus. The handle of the Big Dipper curves down to point at it.
Boötes means the herdsman. Its star Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern half of the sky, orange and easy to spot. Follow the curve of the Big Dipper's handle and it leads you there: arc to Arcturus. The rest of Boötes makes a kite above it.
Arcturus is an orange giant about 37 light-years away, about 25 times wider than the Sun, and it moves across the sky faster than most bright stars. The Quadrantid meteors of early January seem to come from the sky between the top of Boötes and the end of the Big Dipper's handle.
The stars in it
Arcturus, Izar, Delta, Nekkar, Seginus, Rho, Muphrid. The brightest is Arcturus.
How to find it
- Go out after dark with a grown-up, and give your eyes ten minutes away from screens.
- Face east, then high in the south and look for: a tall kite of stars with bright orange Arcturus at its tail. Follow the curve of the Big Dipper's handle: arc to Arcturus.
- Hold up this page's drawing or the printed card and match the shape to the sky. If the sky is clear.
More star patterns
“Star patterns turn through the night, so the shape may be tipped on its side. Turn your head, not the sky.”