Beta Boötis Beta Boötis Beta Boötis (β Boötis, abbreviated Beta Boo, β Boo), also named Nekkar, is a star in the northern constellation of Boötes. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 3.5, making it one of the brighter members of the constellation. In the modern constellation, it marks the head of Boötis the herdsman. Based upon parallax measurements obtained during the Hipparcos mission, this star is approximately from the Sun. At that distance, the magnitude of the star is reduced by 0.06 from extinction caused by intervening gas and dust. "β Boötis" (Latinised to "Beta Boötis") is the star's Bayer designation.
Beta Boötis It bore the traditional name "Nekkar" or "Nakkar" derived from the Arabic name for the constellation: "Al Baḳḳār" 'the Herdsman'. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name "Nekkar" for this star on 21 August 2016 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names. Nakkar has more than three times the mass of the Sun and greater than 21 times the Sun's radius. (König et al. (2006) give it 3.4 solar masses, while Tetzlaff et al.