An interesting constellation, called Boötes, can be seen in spring and summer time in northern hemisphere, close to zenith. Boötes, which can also be called Bootis or shortly just Boo, is located in the direction of the tail of Big Dipper. Most probably you cannot see the whole constellation right now, but later in the spring. Anyhow, if weather conditions are optimal now, you might see the constellation and its alpha star very low in horizon.

The name of the constellation is believed to come from Scandinavian words bo (to live) and ötes (bear). The name of the alpha star (the brightest) of the constellation is called Arcturus and it means “bear hunter”. Boötes is very easy to find. Start by locating Big Dipper. As soon as you have located the Big Dipper, continue its tail straight towards Horizon and you will see the stars of Boötes (see the figure on left). Arcturus is located in the lowest corner of Boötes and you should easily recognize it because it is the fourth brightest (-0.1 magnitudes) star in the sky.

Arcturus is a nice star to observe, but there are few binary stars in Boötes as well. Izar is a nice binary star which you can see already with a 50 mm. telescope. The bigger one of the binary star system is orange from its color. The other star seems to be blue. Both stars are located 210 million lightyears away from the Earth. Izar is the next one to the left from Arcturus. Alkalurops is a three star system and it can also be observed. It is located further to left from Arcturus. See the figure for details.

As said in the beginning, Boötes may not be seen right now. Boötes and Arcturus are interesting targets to observe, so I recommend you to watch the sky every now, and then to seen when they will be observed. If you need more detailed description, please leave a comment and I will try to help you.