Talk:Arcturus

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Nomenclature

The Wikipedia description of the name Arcturus appears to be unique; every other source I checked says that the name came from Greek arktos — bear, and ouros — guard (or tail), meaning guardian of the bear.[1] This alludes to the fact that the tail of Ursa Major points toward this star. The current text needs to be replaced by a statement that can be referenced. Praemonitus (talk) 04:27, 7 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Surely Ἀρκτοῦρος and ἄρκτος are not mutually exclusive. Ἀρκτοῦρος is literally "bear guard", so claiming that it has nothing to do with bears seems odd. Lithopsian (talk) 10:25, 7 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Physical Characteristics

The article says Arcturus is an "old-disk star" but the link leads to an article on "Thick disk" which is a possible galactic structure that has nothing to do with the star itself. Arcturus is not in the so-called Thick Disk. I believe the article is trying to say that Arcturus, which moves perpendicular to the disk of the galaxy, is moving through the galaxy from the so-called Thick Disk region .

MrNeutronSF (talk) 01:39, 1 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

No. The two terms are more or less synonyms. "Old" is effectively synonymous with "thick" because stars form, for the most part, in a very thin layer and so the "thin" disk consists of young stars. Older stars form a thicker disk, at least in the solar neighbourhood, although the detailed reasons why are still debated. Very old stars form a more spherical halo around the galaxy. This is obviously not clear. The claim for Arcturus itself is poorly-sourced and the source given for that sentence doesn't appear to reference the star at all, only other members of the Arcturus moving group. Thick disk does mention that it consists of older stars, but it isn't exactly prominent. What makes you think that Arcturus isn't actually in the thick disk? It is, and there are sources aplenty to confirm it. I'll add one. Lithopsian (talk) 13:58, 1 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]