t is certainly not a pure yellow star at present (at
any rate as seen in our latitude). Owing probably to the difference of
colour between Vega, Capella and Arcturus, photometricians have not been
perfectly agreed as to the relative brilliancy of these objects. Some
consider Vega the most brilliant star in the northern heavens, while
others assign the superiority to Capella. The majority, however,
consider Arcturus the leading northern brilliant, and in the whole
heavens place three only before him, viz., Sirius, Canopus, and [alpha]
Centauri. Arcturus is remarkable in other respects. His proper motion is
very considerable, so great in fact that since the time of Ptolemy the
southerly motion (alone) of Arcturus has carried him over a space nearly
half as great again as the moon's apparent diameter. One might expect
that so brilliant a star, apparently travelling at a rate so great
compared with the average proper motions of the stars, must be
comparatively near to us. This, however, has not been found to be the
case. Arcturus is, indeed, one of the stars whose distance it has been
found possible to estimate roughly. But he is found to be some three
times as far from us as the small star 61 Cygni, and more than seven
times as far from us as [alpha] Centauri.

The star [delta] Bootis is a wide and unequal double, the smaller
component being only of the ninth magnitude.

Above Alkaid the last star in the tail of the Greater Bear, there will
be noticed three small stars. These are [theta], [iota], and [kappa]
Bootis, and are usually placed in star-maps near the upraised hand of
the Herdsman. The two which lie next to Alkaid, [iota] and [kappa], are
interesting doubles. The former is a wide double (see Plate 5), the
magnitudes of components 4 and 8, their colours yellow and white. The
larger star of this pair is itself double. The star [kappa] Bootis is
not so wide a double (see Plate 5), the magnitudes of the components 5
and 8, their colours white and faint blue--a beautiful object.

The star [xi] Bootis is an exceedingly interesting object. It is
double, the colours of the components being orange-yellow and ruddy
purple, their magnitudes 3-1/2 and 6-1/2. When this star was first
observed by Herschel in 1780 the position of the components was quite
different from that presented in Plate 5. They were also much closer,
being separated by a distance of less than 3-1/2 seconds. Since that
time the smaller component has trave