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Many star names are, in origin, descriptive of the part in the constellation they are found in; thus Phecda, a corruption of Arabic فخذ الدب ( fakhdh ad-dubb, 'thigh of the bear'). Only a handful of the brightest stars have individual proper names not depending on their asterism; so Sirius ('the scorcher'), Antares ('rival of Ares ', i.e ...
Constellation names are indicated in uppercase text. Selected star of magnitude 1.5 and brighter. Labeled with common name, star number, and Greek letter to indicate Bayer designation. Selected star of magnitude 1.6 and fainter. Labeled with common name, star number, and Greek letter to indicate Bayer designation.
A diagram of a typical nautical sextant, a tool used in celestial navigation to measure the angle between two objects viewed by means of its optical sight. Celestial navigation, also known as astronavigation, is the practice of position fixing using stars and other celestial bodies that enables a navigator to accurately determine their actual current physical position in space or on the ...
In astronomy, stars have a variety of different stellar designations and names, including catalogue designations, current and historical proper names, and foreign language names. Only a tiny minority of known stars have proper names; all others have only designations from various catalogues or lists, or no identifier at all.
This list covers all known stars, white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, and sub-brown dwarfs within 20 light-years (6.13 parsecs) of the Sun. So far, 131 such objects have been found. So far, 131 such objects have been found.
Astronomical coordinate systems. A star 's galactic, ecliptic, and equatorial coordinates, as projected on the celestial sphere. Ecliptic and equatorial coordinates share the March equinox as the primary direction, and galactic coordinates are referred to the galactic center. The origin of coordinates (the "center of the sphere") is ambiguous ...
All stars but one can be associated with an IAU (International Astronomical Union) constellation. IAU constellations are areas of the sky. Although there are only 88 IAU constellations, the sky is actually divided into 89 irregularly shaped boxes as the constellation Serpens is split into two separate sections, Serpens Caput (the snake's head) to the west and Serpens Cauda (the snake's tail ...
In astronomy, star names, in contrast to star designations, are proper names of stars that have emerged from usage in pre-modern astronomical traditions. Lists of these names appear in the following articles: List of Arabic star names. List of Chinese star names. List of proper names of stars: traditional proper names in modern usage around ...