Boötes, pronounced with both 'O's as 'boötez', is one of the 88 modern constellations in the northern sky. The name is from the Greek word , which means herdsman someone who takes care of animals.
Shape
The constellation's shape is like a kite. Boötes has the third brightest star in the night sky, called Arcturus (α Bootis). The astronomer Ptolemy listed it in the 2nd century when he made a list of 48 constellations.
The Cloverleaf quasar is visually in Bootes.
Main stars
α Bootis (Arcturus) is the brightest and most important star of the constellation, with a magnitude of -0.04, the 3rd brightest star of the sky. It is an orange giant star β Bootis (Nekkar), yellow giant with magnitude 3.49 and 219 light years from the Earth y Bootis (Ceginus), Delta Scuti variable with magnitude 3,04 δ Bootis (Princeps), another yellow giant.
Deep-sky objects
NGC 5248, spiral galaxy, 10º south of Arcturus
NGC 5466, globular cluster, 9º northwest of Arcturus, near M3, a globular cluster in the constellation Canes Venatici.