For convenience, orienteering, as well as the study of the sky, all the stars of old were divided into groups that form the silhouette of certain objects or mythological characters.Over time, the changing nature of some groups, their number increased.However, most of the constellations retained its name and configuration as they were in the second century AD, when he created a catalog of Claudius Ptolemy.These include the constellation Bootes, and in ancient Greece, which bore the name Arktofilaks (translated as "guardian of the Bear").
Location
Bootes sky in the northern hemisphere can be seen all summer.Find it simple.It is enough to look for the start of the Big Dipper constellation Bootes is located to the left of the handle of the bucket.Heavenly drawing many of the most visible sign of its points - Arcturus.This star is the fourth brightest, following Sirius, Canopus and Alpha Centauri.
orange giant Arcturus
not only the brightest star in the constellation Bootes, he is the leader of this parameter in the entire northern hemisphere.In our country it is especially noticeable in the spring.Up until the middle of summer Arcturus is high enough above the horizon in the southern sky.In autumn, he moved to the west, closer to the horizon.
brightest star in the constellation Bootes - a giant orange, luminosity exceeding the sun 110 times.Because of the constant ripple the surface of the stars shine it every eight days with little change in the magnitude of 0.04.These properties allow Arcturus attributed to a class of variable stars.
visitor from another galaxy
Presumably, age Arcturus is slightly more than seven billion years.It refers to the number of stars that make up the so-called flow of Arcturus, 52 light moving with nearly the same speed in the same direction.Some settings of these cosmic bodies led scientists to the conclusion that once upon a time they were part of another galaxy, the Milky Way absorbed.It turns out that the observer who studies the Earth from Arcturus sees simultaneously one of the oldest stars and the stranger from another galactic system.
Tales of ancient
Arcturus connected one of the myths that explain how the constellation Bootes appeared.Legend has it that Zeus was turned into a star Arcadia, his son, to save from certain death.In different versions of the hero of the sky placed either as a specific star or a constellation of all.His mother was Callisto, a servant of the goddess Artemis, or the daughter of King Lycaon.Zeus, wanting to save his beloved from the vengeance of an angry wife, Hera, according to another version, from the Artemis, where her maid made a vow of celibacy, turned Callisto into a bear.Arcade grew an excellent hunter and without knowing the beast in his mother almost shot her.Released boom took Zeus.Then he decided to get rid of Callisto and Arcade persecution, transforming the hero into the constellation Bootes, and his mother - in the Big Dipper.The second title of the stellar figure, Arktofilaks, a native of the same legend: Arcades in the sky constantly dogging bear holding big Dogs and shielding it from other afflictions.
constellation Bootes children can be fun just like its relations with neighboring celestial figures.Legend facilitate memorizing the location of several figures.
binary system
constellation Bootes scheme includes 149 stars visible to the naked eye, and Arcturus - is not the only object worthy of attention among them.As the brightness is also made Isar (epsilon) Mufrid (this) and Seginus (gamma).And all of them are double stars.
Isar or Itsar (Arabic for "loincloth") - a system that includes a bright orange giant and a white main sequence stars.The distance between them is 185 astronomical units, and the orbital period over a thousand years.
Mufrid - a close neighbor of Arcturus (Bootes constellation diagram is shown below).One of the components of the system and the temperature of the surface color similar to the Sun, but not a yellow giants.To overcome their stage of life characterized as an intermediate on the way to becoming a red giant.His companion less impressive in its parameters.This is a red dwarf, referring to the objects of the main sequence.
Seginus located on the shoulder of Bootes, and also consists of two bodies.It refers to variable stars such as Delta Shield having luster, changing every few hours because of the ripple surface.
Zeta
constellation Bootes and boasts the presence of triple stars.These include the Zeta.The first two of its components (A and B) are virtually identical in magnitude.The luminosity of each of more than a similar parameter of the sun 38 times.This star system Zeta Bootes - pretty dull space object and perhaps, therefore, has no other historical name.
third component still is one of the mysteries of the universe.About him we know only that it revolves around the couple called as is always the case in the ternary systems, and has a magnitude of 10.9.
44 Bootes
in the constellation there is one more interesting object of the triple.This 44 Bootes.Close steam within the system is a two-star, so close to each other that their surfaces are in contact.44 and 44 in the Bootes Bootes On turning around each other within three hours, the distance between them is slightly more than a million kilometers.For space such quantities are negligible.Stars are constantly exchanging material and make the system unstable, often generates a powerful explosion.
component in the system is similar in mass to the Sun, its radius is also close to the corresponding parameter of our star.It belongs to a class of G2 V. With 44 Bootes is poorly.It gives luminosity and mass of component B, and the diameter of the Sun is less than 40%.It belongs to the yellow dwarf.
Bootes 44 A is very similar to our star.Its range and luminosity are virtually identical to those of the sun.The distance from this component of the ternary system to couple the sun is constantly changing, as the orbit of movement is in the form of an elongated oval.On average, its value - 48.5 astronomical units.
satellites of our galaxy
Bootes remarkable and another object is placed on his "territory."In 2006 there was discovered dwarf galaxy named as Bootes.These systems are among the satellites of the Milky Way, being with him in the gravitational relationships of such communication Earth and the Moon.Bootes (constellation), a photo which more than once made telescopes, was identified as the owner of a dwarf galaxy by careful calculations and calculations.So dim space object it is impossible to fix on any picture.Finding these galaxies plays an important role in refining the theory of the formation of the Milky Way and the universe.
Bootes, beautiful and noticeable constellation harbors a lot of mysteries and still in no hurry to disclose their curious astronomers.Not all of its stars are studied.Periodically flashed messages about new objects detected near Bootes.It is safe to hope that this constellation, like the rest of deep space, will give us many more discoveries.
