In Greek tradition, Bo\u00f6tes was visualised in several ways, usually herding or driving animals.<\/p>\n
One story says that the name Bo\u00f6tes comes from the Greek for ox driver, since the stars of the Plough were visualised as an ox cart.<\/p>\n
An alternative explanation is that the name comes from a Greek word meaning \u2019noisy\u2019, and we can perhaps imagine the sounds of the herdsman shouting to his animals in the night.<\/p>\n
- Read more about the history of astronomy<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>
![\""The\"]( "\\"\"Canes\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>The two stars of Canes Venatici. Credit: Allexxandar \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n The two dogs of Bo\u00f6tes are represented by the constellation of Canes Venatici, but this isn\u2019t one of the 48 figures that the ancient Greek astronomer Ptolemy<\/a> listed in his great source book, the Almagest<\/i>, written around 150 AD.<\/p>\n
Unlike the modern constellations, which fit neatly together, the Greek constellations didn\u2019t fill the entire sky.<\/p>\n
Between Bo\u00f6tes and Ursa Major was a large gap. Within it were two stars, which Ptolemy had classed among the \u2018unformed\u2019 stars outside Ursa Major, not part of any constellation and so free to use in a new figure.<\/p>\n
The brighter member of this pair of stars is known as Cor Caroli (Alpha (\u03b1) Canum Venaticorum) or \u2018Charles\u2019s Heart\u2019, a name given to it by British astronomers in the 17th century, before Canes Venatici was formed.<\/p>\n
How this name came about is a story in itself.<\/p>\n
Cor Caroli \u2013 the heart of King Charles<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\""Cor\"]( "\\"\"Cor\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n Before Bo\u00f6tes acquired his canine companions there was another mini-constellation in this area known as Cor Caroli, Charles\u2019s Heart.<\/p>\n
The poet Edward Sherburne (1616\u20131702) wrote in his translation of The Sphere of Marcus Manilius<\/i> that the name was \u201c\u2026in Memory of the most Glorious Prince and Martyr, Charles the First\u201d, and that the King\u2019s physician, Sir Charles Scarborough, had come up with the idea.<\/p>\n
According to historian Deborah Jean Warner, the name first appeared in print in 1673 on the northern half of a pair of celestial hemispheres by the cartographer Francis Lamb.<\/span><\/p>\n
He labelled <\/span>the star Cor Caroli Regis Martyris (\u2018Heart of Charles the Martyred King\u2019) \u2013 Charles I had declared himself \u201cthe martyr of the people\u201d at his 1649 execution.<\/p>\n
On his chart, Lamb drew a heart and crown around the star, making it a mini-constellation. Sherburne followed suit, as did instrument maker Thomas Tuttell.<\/p>\n
In his Bedford Catalogue of 1844 WH Smyth stated it was named Cor Caroli by Edmond Halley, at the suggestion of Scarborough after he noticed a star, which Johannes Helvelius had made part of Chara\u2019s collar, was shining brighter than usual on the night before Charles II returned to London.<\/p>\n
Smyth gave no source for this assertion, which, as well as being astronomically unlikely, compounds three errors:<\/p>\n
- the star wasn\u2019t named by Halley<\/li>\n
- it was named before Hevelius had created Canes Venatici<\/li>\n
- the name doesn\u2019t refer to Charles II<\/li>\n<\/ol>
However,\u00a0 <\/span>Smyth can claim he was misled about Halley and Charles II because he was repeating what Johann Bode had said (wrongly) in an 1801 star catalogue.<\/span><\/p>\n
Could such a brightening have really happened? Cor Caroli is slightly variable, but its fluctuations are too small for the naked eye. The possibility that it should have brightened on the night of Charles II\u2019s return is undoubtedly apocryphal.<\/span><\/p>\n
Where did Canes Venatici originate?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\""The\"]( "\\"\"Canes\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>The constellation of Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs. Credit: Stellarium<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n The prime mover behind the introduction of the constellation of Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs, to the sky was Johannes Hevelius (1611\u201387), a wealthy brewer from Danzig, (now Gda\u0144sk, Poland), who was one of the greatest observers of his age.<\/p>\n
He used his wealth to create a rooftop observatory equipped with top-quality instruments of his own construction.<\/p>\n
His interests were wide-ranging and his output prolific: he observed sunspots, comets<\/a> and the variable star<\/a> Mira (Omicron (\u03bf) Ceti) \u2013 which he named, plus a transit of Mercury<\/a>, the moons of Jupiter<\/a> and the rings of Saturn<\/a>.<\/p>\n
He also produced the first atlas of the Moon, Selenographia<\/i>. Like his hero Tycho Brahe (1546\u20131601), Hevelius published his results on his own printing press.<\/p>\n
![\""The\"]( "\\"\"The\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>The first detailed map of the Moon drawn in 1647 by Johann Hevelius. Credit: DEA \/ G. CIGOLINI \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n The underlying aim for much of his life, though, was to improve on Tycho\u2019s catalogue of a thousand stars.<\/p>\n
Had he wished, Hevelius could have produced the first-ever star catalogue made with a telescope, ahead of John Flamsteed at Greenwich, but he was concerned that lenses might introduce positional distortions.<\/p>\n
Instead, he relied on simple naked-eye sighting instruments, such as sextants and quadrants similar to those used by Brahe in pre-telescopic days.<\/p>\n
Hevelius claimed that their quality and his sharp eyesight were a match <\/span>for smaller instruments with telescopic sights.<\/p>\n
T<\/span>his brought Hevelius into conflict with the Royal Society, which had elected him as a member in 1664.<\/p>\n
![\""Johannes\"]( "\\"\"Johannes\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Johannes Hevelius by Daniel Schultz. Credit: Photo 12 \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n Robert Hooke, in particular, doubted that his results would be a match for telescopic measurements, but Hevelius disagreed.<\/span><\/p>\n
To resolve the issue, Edmond Halley <\/span>went to visit Hevelius and observed alongside him using a quadrant with telescopic sights.<\/p>\n
Hevelius was a brewer and Halley liked a glass\u00a0 <\/span>of ale, so the two got on famously and, upon his return, Halley was happy to endorse the accuracy of Hevelius\u2019s results.<\/p>\n
Subsequent analysis has shown that his star positions were indeed more accurate than Brahe\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The Catalogus Stellarum Fixarum<\/i> (\u2018Catalogue of Fixed Stars\u2019) by Hevelius contained over 1,500 stars, 50% more than either Ptolemy or Brahe had recorded, giving him plenty of raw material from which to fashion new constellations in the gaps between the ancient figures.<\/p>\n
The catalogue was in the process of being printed in 1687 when Hevelius died. It was seen through to publication by his wife Elisabeth, eventually appearing in 1690 along with a magnificent atlas, Firmamentum Sobiescianum<\/i>, named in honour of the Polish king, John III Sobieski.<\/p>\n
![\""An\"]( "\\"\"Illustration\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>An illustration of Canes Venatici in Johann Hevelius\u2019s star atlas Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia, Gdansk, 1690. Photo by DeAgostini\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n Along with the Ptolemaic figures, the catalogue and atlas of Hevelius contained 10 constellations of his own devising, seven of which we still use today: Canes V<\/span>enatici, the Hunting Dogs; Lacerta, the Lizard; Leo Minor, the Smaller Lion; Lynx; Scutum, the Shield; Sextans, the Sextant; and Vulpecula, the Little Fox.<\/p>\n
The depiction of Canes Venatici by Hevelius can be seen in his 1690 atlas (pictured above).<\/p>\n
As on all of his charts, the constellation is drawn as it would appear on a globe, so it appears back-to-front compared to the way we see it in the sky.<\/p>\n
The dogs are meant to be greyhounds, which hunt as a pair, although they might not look like it the way they\u2019re drawn on some charts.<\/p>\n
Hevelius named the northern dog Asterion and the southern one Chara (he deemed them to be male and female respectively).<\/p>\n
Chara, leading the chase, is clearly the top dog as she contains the two unformed stars listed by Ptolemy, of third and fourth magnitude, now known as Alpha (\u03b1) Canum Venaticorum and Beta (\u03b2) Canum Venaticorum.<\/p>\n
These designations were allocated by the English astronomer Francis Baily in his Catalogue of Stars of the British Association for the Advancement of Science<\/i> of 1845, since Hevelius didn\u2019t use Greek letters on his charts.<\/p>\n
Alpha (\u03b1) Canum Venaticorum is Cor Caroli. By contrast, Chara\u2019s kennel-mate Asterion is marked by only a scattering of faint stars.<\/p>\n
Although Hevelius is rightly credited with the invention of the constellation of Canes Venatici, he was not the first to show dogs in this area.<\/p>\n
That honour goes to the German astronomer Peter Apian (Petrus Apianus in Latin) who published a star chart showing Bo\u00f6tes with two dogs in 1533, 150 years before Hevelius.<\/p>\n
Three years later, on another of Apian\u2019s charts, the number of dogs had grown to three.<\/p>\n
Was Bo\u00f6tes a dog owner?<\/b><\/span>
![\""A\"]( "\\"\"Willem\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>A 1602 depiction of the Hunting Dogs from a globe by Willem Janszoon Blaeu shows each dog marked by the unformed stars listed by Ptolemy. Credit: British Library<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n Where did Apian get the idea that Bo\u00f6tes might be a dog owner? Certainly not from Greek myth, as there\u2019s no mention of canine companions there.<\/p>\n
The star name expert Paul Kunitzsch has traced the origin of the idea to a bizarre mistranslation in the 12th century.<\/p>\n
Gerard of Cremona, who was retranslating an Arabic-language version of the Almagest<\/i> into Latin, apparently mistook the Arabic word al-kull\u0101b<\/i>, referring to the shepherd\u2019s crook carried by Bo\u00f6tes, for al-kil\u0101b<\/i>, which means dogs.<\/p>\n
He ended up with a garbled phrase implying that Bo\u00f6tes carried a staff with dogs. Apian evidently read this incorrect translation and added the dogs to his Bo\u00f6tes image.<\/p>\n
Apian\u2019s dogs can\u2019t really be considered forerunners of Canes Venatici since, unlike the greyhounds of Hevelius, they were still following Bo\u00f6tes and not the Great Bear.<\/span><\/p>\n
What\u2019s more they didn\u2019t incorporate any of <\/span>Ptolemy\u2019s stars.<\/p>\n
A more plausible prototype appeared on a celestial globe of 1602 made by the eminent Dutch cartographer Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571\u20131638).<\/p>\n
On this we see Bo\u00f6tes holding two dogs that are following the Great Bear (pictured above), as in the constellation of Hevelius.<\/p>\n
The lead dog is marked by Beta Canum Venaticorum and the follower by Cor Caroli. This was the first attempt to incorporate the two brightest stars in this area into a pair of dogs, although Hevelius achieved it differently by allocating both stars to Chara, the southern dog.<\/p>\n
Did Hevelius take his idea from Blaeu\u2019s globe? He didn\u2019t say, but the similarity between Blaeu\u2019s dogs and the later constellation of Hevelius is striking.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the history of the constellations should be revised to give Blaeu a share of the credit for the formation of Canes Venatici.<\/p>\n
Next time you\u2019re out, see if you can spot these two leaping greyhounds, and the heart of King Charles, in the space between Bo\u00f6tes and the Great Bear.<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared in the December 2021 issue of <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
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