Star Labels
Overview
The show the common names of the stars. Of course, only the prominent stars have such a name, and we have 335 stars included in this asset.
A view toward Orion with the star labels turned on. As with all labels, the larger it is, the closer it is to you. These common names derive from many sources and often from ancient civilizations. Most are a literal for that part of the constellation, for example Procyon derives from the ancient Greek for “preceding the Dog” and Altair translates to “the flying eagle.”
Name Origins
Many of these names have their origin in ancient civilizations, in particular the Greeks, Egyptians, and Arabs. Most of the traditional star names are derived from an Arabic translation of Ptolemy’s Almagest.
Many of these names merely describe that part of the constellation they represent. For example, the word deneb appears in several star names and translates into “tail”. Betelgeuse, located at Orion’s shoulder, translates from an Arabic phrase “the armpit of the central one.”
A list of star names and their meanings may be found on the Wikipedia’s List of proper names of stars.
Profiles
Dossier
Census: |
335 star names |
|---|---|
Asset File: |
|
OpenSpace Version: |
3 |
Reference: |
IAU, Simbad |
Prepared by: |
Brian Abbott, Zack Reeves (AMNH) |
Source Version: |
8.1 |
License: |