In Ovid's version of the legend, the hunter was placed in the sky just as he was and not first metamorphosed into a bear and hung on the Pole Star as Ursa Minor. Not recognizing his mother in the form of Ursa Major, Boötes keeps on pursuing her in an eternal chase about the Pole. He is thus often called "The Watcher of the Bear" or "The Bear Driver." Those who choose to consider Callisto's son, Areas, as having been metamorphosed into a bear and hung on the pole of the heavens may then consider Boötes as representing the herdsman who invented the plow.
The two Hunting Dogs, "Asterion" and "Chara," now held enchained by Boötes, form the constellation Canes Venatici, which lies just below the handle of the Big Dipper and above Arcturus and Berenice's Hair. The collar of the hunting dog Chara is marked by the star Cor Carolli, which means "Charles' Heart" and was named in memory of Charles I by Halley, the English astronomer, on the suggestion of the Court Physician, Sir Charles Scarborough.
This star is an attractive double as viewed in a small telescope with the delicate colorings of "flushed white and lilac." On the head of Asterion lies the famous whirlpool nebula, although this may only be seen in a large telescope. This nebula has its great arms of nebulous material flung widely into space and looks as if it were whirling rapidly about, but the motion, if any, is too slow for us really to see. With a few exceptions most of the spiral nebulæ are so very distant that they may only be seen through a very large telescope, but next to the stars, they are the most abundant objects in all the sky and are of great interest to astronomers.
Arcturus, the beautiful first magnitude star which glows so conspicuously in the constellation of Boötes, is, however, the main source of interest in these star groups. The star is popular for its appearance alone, for it is large and richly golden, and always easily located, but it is also of interest in a scientific way, for it has been found to be an extremely huge and glorious sun. Our sun placed at the same distance—145 millions of millions of miles—would shine as a faint and almost invisible star, yet Arcturus is so much larger than our sun that it drifts across our sky like a bowl of light.
Arcturus is not only one of the largest but it is also one of the swiftest moving stars in the heavens. It moves so swiftly that it covers 100 miles in every second. This speed has caused it to be labeled a "runaway star." Although this star shoots through space at such an incredible rate of speed it has taken it 800 years to describe a space (as seen by our eyes) equal to the apparent diameter of the moon. This may give the reader some slight realization of the vast distance which separates us from Arcturus. But astronomers write it this way—"It has taken only 800 years for Arcturus to describe a space equal to the apparent diameter of the moon," for the stars are so very distant that most of them do not seem to change their places in the heavens even in the course of many thousands of years.
Amazing as the speed of Arcturus appeared to astronomers, they later discovered a star of the 8th magnitude in the southern hemisphere with even a greater proper motion. This star has moved the distance of the diameter of the moon in 220 years, which means that it moves over a hundred times faster than the average star. But the late Professor Barnard of the Yerkes Observatory had the distinction of discovering a star with the largest proper motion known. The average star does not exceed one minute of arc in a thousand years but Professor Barnard's "runaway star" has the amazing proper motion of 10.3 seconds a year. In that length of time it travels twice as far as the average star does in a century!
Scientists accomplish many wonderful, and most remarkable, deeds. Even the heroes who lived in the vivid minds of the ancient peoples dwindle into insignificance beside these men with their calm patience and brilliant seeking minds.
"These mathematic men have thoughts that march
From sphere to sphere and measure out the blue
Of infinite space like roods of garden ground."
—Blackie.