h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Star Constellations-Bootes - A923311
Author: Shagbark - U170775

Someone said we should have entries on the constellations. Well, here is mysmall contribution.

Its a good start Shagbark, but a little bit on the thin side.

How about the names of the other stars in the constellation and a bit of information about Arcturus. How far away is it and what type of start it is. You might mention that Arcturus is the brightest star in the Northern Hemispher, but the further South you go, Sirius begins to take over in the brightest league.

Your description of the stars location will not mean much to the layman without a star chart. Describing its position in relation to the Great Bear or The Plough, which everyone should be able to find, would help non-atronomical types find it better.

If you are worried about plagiarisation, thing to do is to read all the information from the abundance of sources you will find, then write it out in your own words, adding comments as appropriate. That way you cannot be accused of copying someones work.

Stuart

Hi Shagbark,

I notice this is a proposed entry for the Constellation project that Tango and Cefpret are running. I know there was some discussion as to whether or not this would be a Uni project or not, so for the time being I'll assume that it's not and just treat it as any other PR entry

This is a good start, but as Stuart said it's a bit brief. You mention that the character Bootes is mentioned in Greek mythology, but don't say in what context. Perhaps the following website can help you there: http://www.coldwater.k12.mi.us/lms/planetarium/myth/bootes.html

Additionally, you could link to the Edited Entry on Arcturus - A757352.

For those people who don't have a clue what constellations are (and there might be some I suppose) this could benefit from an explanation that it was believed that certain groups or patterns of stars existed to represent characters or beasts from mythology, and that these characters continue to influence our lives as they shine down on us from the Heavens - which is why there is still some confusion over the differences between astrology and astronomy (the former examines the starts, the latter examines the believed influences the stars have on us). That way, it might help explain better the bit about the herdsman, who seems to arrive in the paragraph without any real introduction.

I know a lot of work has already gone into geting this project off the ground, so all the best with it, and I hope this little contribution is of some help to you

Jimster

It *is* a bit thin on content.

You could also check out the Orion entry at A395165 for some pointers.



- Jimi X

This constellation has a special place in my heart because when I bought my first telescope I kept looking at Arcturus and thinking it was Saturn.

Bootes is vitally important in finding your way around the night sky.

'Arc to Arcturus and spike to Spica' and all that...

That's a nice start. I would recommend trying to be consistent with entries aleady written as part of the project (uni or otherwise). There is certainly more info that could be included.

Tango

Jimi X> This constellation has a special place in
Jimi X> my heart because when I bought my first
Jimi X> telescope I kept looking at Arcturus and
Jimi X> thinking it was Saturn. [blush]

Well, as far as colour and brightness are concerned, you weren't that wrong. But of course something vital is missing.

Jimi X> Bootes is vitally important in finding
Jimi X> your way around the night sky.

Yes, indeed. I use it to get a path to Alkaid (is this still a politically correct name for this star?) in the Great Bear.

Tango> That's a nice start. I would recommend
Tango> trying to be consistent with entries aleady
Tango> written as part of the project (uni or
Tango> otherwise). [...]

That's my concern. The provisional project home page is A743591, where you also find a sample entry. However so far I haven't shouted it from the housetops because some things have to be clarified first. Eg existing edited entries, or the exact layout of one entry. Maybe the whole page will move back to Tango to the University, etc. I hope to do that in the next 48 hours.

Even if the constellation entries will eventually end up here anyway, I think it's best to keep them within the project first, to assure consistency and a certain standard. The best astronoms of h2g2 that are currently willing to review stuff will be present there I hope.

If everybody goes to Peer Review on one's own hook the project will go into splinters I'm afraid.

It may be true that Arcturus is the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere, but that means the Northern Hemisphere of the Celestial Globe. Readers will almost definitely think it means "the brightest star visible from the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth". Instead, you should say "the brightest star in the "northern hemisphere of the celestial globe" or something like that.

"Its" meaning "belonging to it" has no apostrophe.

Minor nitpick for an otherwise good entry: The title of the entry should probably have the "o" with an umlat in it.

Well done!

I was told that you can't have accented characters in the title of the entry because it confuses the hell out of the search engine. That was about a year ago. Things may have changed since then.

Shagbark, because it's subsubedited within the project now (A946415), please remove this thread from PR.

I'm not sure I know of any procedure to do that. At any rate I am not
to happy with you're rewrites anyway .

> I'm not sure I know of any procedure to do that.

If you go to the Peer Review main page you see next to your entry the remove text. Then click on it. The exact appearance may depend on the skin you're using.

> At any rate I am not to happy with you're
> rewrites anyway [cross].

Then please do so in a more specific manner here or -- even better -- in the respective review thread. I'll read it carefully. The entry is for review after all. However I must insist on certain minimal things in every entry.

I will comply with this request. You may find my criticism attached to the article. I will also be checking shortly to see if you have replied to the critism I attached under the thread entitled shape under Hercules.