Names of Stars and Their Meanings
The nighttime sky surprises with its fairness and innumerable number of celestial fireflies. Exceptionally fascinating is the fact that their transcription is structured, as if they were exclusively staged in the right order, forming star systems. From antediluvian times, knowledgeable astrologers tried to reckon all these myriads of celestial remains and come across names.
Distinct of them are well-established and nearly likely met at little before on the sheet of newspapers and publication — Polar Star, Sirius, Fomalhaut. Nevertheless, what additional names of celestial are there, and what do they mean? Today, you can learn deeper about the History of Astronomy and the defamation of the stars.
Star names: an alphabetical list of the most famous stars in the sky
In order not to confuse the names of stars and constellations, we will divide them into groups. Here are the most popular stars in the sky that are known to scientists and mankind.
The names of the stars in the sky:
- Aliot — his head approaches from the Arabic morpheme “fat tail”. It is the brightest star of the Big Dipper and ranks 33rd in the overall brightness rating. It kind of starts the “handle” of the visual bucket, or goes on the 3rd place from the end.
- Aldebaran is the eye of the bull. Aldebaran lies in the open star cluster Hyades and together with them forms the head of a bull (Taurus). In autumn, she shows herself in the morning sky, in winter she is seen in the evening.
- Altair is part of the bright summer diamond-shaped constellation of the Eagle. Altair is used in many fictional roles. And it appears, for example, in “Star Trek”, “Stargate” and in the computer game “Master of Orion”. The star ranks 12th in the brightness rating.
- Antares is part of the constellation Scorpio. This star is a supergiant, about 800 times larger than our Sun (if in its place, it would reach Jupiter). At 600 light years away, it is about 10,000 times brighter than our entire system. And because it emits a huge portion of its energy in the infrared, it is actually 65,000 times brighter.
- Arcturus is the 4th brightest star in the evening sky, in the constellation Bootes. Arcturus owes his fame to several science fiction novels and films, in which he appears several times under the name Arcturus as an intergalactic scene. For example, Travel to Arcturus.
- Achernar is placed in the Eridanus, the celestial of the Southern Hemisphere. Of the ten brightest celestials, this is the bluest and is stratified 9th. It flames 3,000 times brighter than our Solar star, contempt to be categorized as a gnome star. Achernar is likewise the littlest spherical heavenly body in the Milky Way. It revolves so fast that its tropical width is more than 50% bigger than its polar diameter. It is a double luminary.
- Betelgeuse. One of the brightest stars in Orion. Plays a significant role in ancient Egyptian mythology. It stands out for its reddish colour and is therefore often associated with war.
- Vega is known for films and literature also. The main star of the constellation Leier (Lyrae) is also part of the great summer triangle. In the field of photometry, it was used as a reference star for brightness measurements; it ranks 5th in brightness.
- Deneb — in addition to Vega and Altair, Deneb is also included in the bright summer-autumn triangle. Bluish Deneb in Chinese mythology refers to the bridge over the Milky Way. It takes the leading place in the constellation Cygnus in terms of brightness, in the night sky — 20.
- Canopus is the second-brightest star in the night sky. Also serves for navigation due to its position near the South Pole of the ecliptic and high brightness. Unfortunately, she can only be seen from Southern Europe. Descends into the starry galaxy of Carina. Capella — Its name means “little goat” in Latin and has been mapped by many ancient cultures, including the Greeks, Egyptians, and others.
- Capella is a yellow-bellied giant star, complementary to our Sun, but practically larger. Astronomers assign it as class G5 and know that it is 41 light-years far-away from the Sun. Capella is the brightest celestial in the constellation Auriga (Charioteer).
- Pollux is an orangish colossus that you can look at in Gemini with another first bigness, the heavenly body Castor. This couple forms “celestial twins”, which come across the designation to the constellation. Pollux is 34 light-years from Earth and is quite cold.
- Polar Star. Less bright, but most important, like a pointer in the sky. She always stands in the same place in the sky and marks the celestial North Pole. In the past, it was often used as a navigational aid for ships to check position, course, or compass. The North Star is best found using Ursa Minor in the back box up to five times.
- Procyon — It is categorized as an F5 celestial — which means it is a little colder than the Sun. Procyon is a yellow-white heavenly body in the constellation Canis Minor and is likewise the parting of the Winter Hexagon. This can be seen from a nearby piece of the Northern Hemisphere, and various cultures have integrated it into their sky legends.
- Regulus is another heavenly body you’ve believed seen more than you realize. She is placed quite around the Big Dipper, in the constellation Leo. Regulus is a blue and white primary sequence celestial that is 3.5 times the mass of the Sun. A young heavenly body just a few hundred million years old.
- Rigel, like Betelgeuse, is the brightest star in Orion. It takes place in the science universe. For example, in Star Trek, Rigel is the most populous star system in space. In astronomy, it is considered a blue-white giant.
- Sirius is the brightest and most popular star. Sirius has a radius 2,100 times that of the Sun, and in comparison with the Earth — 200,000 times. The light of the largest known star in our universe takes 5,000 years to reach our eye. In the sky, Sirius can be found southeast of the striking Orion. She belongs to the constellation Big Dog. At the same time, Sirius forms the southernmost point of the winter hexagon.
- Spica — in the constellation Virgo, this star is almost the first magnitude. Its second name is Kolos. It is best to observe it in our area in the spring, but in the summer only at dusk will you be lucky to catch it.
- Toliman — it is located in the constellation Centaurus and has a middle name — Alpha Centauri. Its peculiarity is that it seems to the naked eye as if it were one star. But in fact, it is triple. These three stars are not very bright and are very close to each other.
- Fomalhaut is another celestial in the Southern Hemisphere. It is placed almost 25 light-years from Earth. It is believed to be a fairly childish star — possibly just 100-300 million years old.
As you can see from the above, there are many stars with their own unique names. And often, when they are visible in the firmament, these stars will remind of important events in life. But if you want to capture the very firmament that was above your head on a significant date, then you can use the service of a custom star map builder. This is a great opportunity to forever capture an important date for yourself and your loved ones, never forgetting what the sky looked like that night.