Bootes constellation from Johannes Hevelius' Prodromus Astronomiae, Firmamentum Sobiescianum, Sive Uranographia, 1687. Hevelius' star atlas is unique among the Grand Atlases in choosing to depict the constellations as they would appear on a globe, that is, from the outside looking in, rather than from a geocentric point of view. Bootes was one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy and is now one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. He holds his hunting dogs, Canes Venatici.