List of Arabic star names

This is a list of traditional Arabic names for stars. In Western astronomy, most of the accepted star names are Arabic, a few are Greek and some are of unknown origin. Typically only bright stars have names.^[1]

History of Arabic star names

Very old star names originated among people who lived in the Arabian Peninsula more than a thousand years ago, before the rise of Islam. However, many Arabic language star names sprang up later in history, as translations of ancient Greek language descriptions.

The astronomer Claudius Ptolemy in his Almagest (2nd century) tabulated the celestial position and brightness (visual magnitude) of 1,025 stars. Ptolemy's book was translated into Arabic in the 8th and 9th centuries and became famous in Europe as a 12th-century Latin translation. Many of the Arabic-language star descriptions in the Almagest came to be widely used as names for stars.

Ptolemy used a strategy of "figure reference" to identify stars according to their position within a familiar constellation or asterism (e.g., "in the right shoulder of The Hunter"). Muslim astronomers adopted some of these as proper names for stars, and added names from traditional Arabic star lore, which they recorded in various Zij treatises. The most notable of these is the Book of Fixed Stars written by the Muslim astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (known as Azophi in the West), who thoroughly illustrated all the stars known to him along with their observations, descriptions, positions, magnitudes, brightness, and color.

In Europe, during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, many ancient star names were copied or translated incorrectly by various writers, some of whom did not know the Arabic language very well. As a result, the history of a star's name can be complicated.^[2]

Please note the Arabic transliteration with spelling below is the nearest and proper pronunciation in accordance with the Arabic IPA system. (rev. 30 October 2016)

[Furthermore, to aide due to the proper Arabic transliteration and pronunciation, both ' and ʿ is pronounced closest to a pitch or "uh" from the back of the throat.]

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z

Others

See also

• Islamic astronomy
• List of proper names of stars

References

1. ↑ "Stargazing Network". Stargazing.net. Retrieved 2011-10-05. 
2. ↑ "Star Names: Where Do They Come From? And Can You Buy One?", RMSC Strasenburgh Planetarium Information Bulletin #19 December 1996, (archived 2007)
3. ↑ Henbest, N.; Couper, H. (1994). The guide to the galaxy. p. 31. ISBN 0-521-45882-X. 
4. ↑ Kepple, G. R.; Sanner, G. W. (1998). The Night Sky Observer's Guide. Vol. 1. Willmann-Bell. p. 18. ISBN 0-943396-58-1. 

• Islamic Crescents' Observation Project (ICOP) website, which in turn cites
  • Paul Kunitzsch, Tim Smart, Short Guide to Modern Star Names and Their Derivations (1986);
  • Guy Ottewell, The Astronomical Companion;
  • Abdul-Rahim Bader, Rasd al-Sama' ("Observing the Sky");
  • Hamid Al-Naimy Elm al-Falak ("Astronomy").

External links

• ICOP: Arabic Star Names
• Kaler, James, "Star Names: Proper Names", University of Illinois
• The Astronomy Corner: Reference – Star Names v1.1.2 (2006-05-28) from web.archive.org
• Lebling, Robert W., "Arabic in the Sky", Saudi Aramco World magazine, September/October 2010, v.61, n.5

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