Boötes is an ancient constellation. The Greek name means an ox-driver (the “bo” part has the same root as the adjective “bovine”), but is usually translated into English as “herdsman”. The two “o”s are pronounced separately, as the two dots above the second “o” indicates, so it is pronounced boh-oh-tiz, not booties. Corona Borealis (Northern Crown) is also an ancient Greek constellation, and represents the crown of honour given to Princess Ariadne of Crete for helping the Greek hero Theseus escape from the Minotaur and its maze (the Minotaur was a creature in Greek mythology: part man, part bull).

The Northern Crown is small, but easily made out as an arc. Boötes is more difficult, but is best described as a kite with the orange star Arcturus at its base, which can be found by following the line formed by the handle of the Plough. Arcturus is the second brightest star in our skies, and is a red giant which is 7 billion years old; it will soon (in astronomical terms!) go supernova and become a white dwarf. 

Sadly, neither constellation has any interesting star clusters or planetary nebulae. Boötes has several good double stars. The best is Mu Boötis [1] or Alkalurops, a magnitude 4.3 star just above the top of the kite. It is a wide pair of two yellow stars, the dimmer of which is also a tight double. There is a pair of double stars [2] similar in magnitude to Alkalurops which are actually just above Alkaid in Ursa Major (the final star in the Plough’s handle): Kappa and Iota Boötis. Kappa on the right is a nice yellow-white and blue double, while Iota is a wide white and lilac pair. Izar is a beautiful yellow-orange and blue double, but it is very tight and hence not easy to split.

The best sight in Corona Borealis is the very wide double Nu Coronae Borealis [3], which is magnitude 5.4. These two orange stars are about the same brightness, and easily seen in binoculars. Corona Borealis also contains two famous variables. R Coronae Borealis [4] is a yellow star of magnitude 6 which is almost entirely made of helium. From time to time it slowly drops down to magnitude 14, the last “great dimming” being between 2007 and 2018.  T Coronae Borealis [5] is a pair of Arcturus-like stars. One has already become a white dwarf, and the other is still a red giant. The white dwarf draws material from its bloated companion and then explodes in a semi-regular pattern producing a nova. Its usual magnitude is around magnitude 10, but when it blows, it can reach magnitude 2. The last outbursts were in 1866 and 1946; the next one may be soon – so keep a watch on it!