Arcturus (Ἀρκτοῦρος)

Arcturus is a reddish star, yet it twinkles in many colours - even when high above the horizon and in a rather dark landscape.

Arcturus (Ἀρκτοῦρος), The Guard, is a modern star name adopted by the International Astronomical Union in the IAU-Catalog of Star Names (IAU-CSN). Its origin is Greek. It is the name of HIP69673 (α Boo, HR 5340) in constellation Boo.

Etymology and History

The ancient Greek name unambiguously means "The Guard". He is depicted in the shepherd of Bootes whose main star this is, and who was called The Ploughman in ancient Greek. In Roman times, it made sense to connect the guard to the seven oxen seen in the Big Dipper, or - in the Egyptian part of the empire - as the hippo goddess guarding the bull's thigh.

Spelling Variants

• Arkturus, Arkturos (closer to the Greek original)

Folk Etymology

Since Early Modern times, popularly connected to the Greek word Άρκτος, "bear," which also came to mean "north". Then, meaning can ambiguously be "Guardian of the North" and "Guardian of the Bear", referring to the nearby constellation Ursa Major.

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name was adopted by the IAU WGSN on 2016/06/30.

Weblinks

• Website of the IAU WGSN: https://exopla.net/

Reference

• References (general)
• References (early modern)[