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[a] Traditional astronomy tends to group stars into constellations or asterisms and give proper names to those, not to individual stars. 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').
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 ...
The German astronomer Johann Bayer created a series of star maps and applied Greek letters as designations to the stars in each constellation. Later a numbering system based on the star's right ascension was invented and added to John Flamsteed 's star catalogue in his book "Historia coelestis Britannica" (the 1712 edition), whereby this ...
As of 2008 The Stars: A New Way to See Them and a simplified presentation for children called Find the Constellations are still in print. A new edition of Find the Constellations was released in 2008, updated with modern fonts, the new status of Pluto, and some more current measurements of planetary sizes and orbital radii. [2]
The following lists of constellations are available: IAU designated constellations – a list of the current, or "modern", constellations; Former constellations – a list of former constellations; Chinese constellations – traditional Chinese astronomy constellations; List of Nakshatras – sectors along the Moon's ecliptic
Four views of the constellation Orion: . Top: Baroque drawing of Orion from Johannes Hevelius ' star atlas Firmamentum Sobiescianum, showing the stars as they would appear to an observer looking down upon the imaginary celestial sphere from the outside (left); and illustration from the medieval Persian astronomical text Book of Fixed Stars (right)
In traditional astrological nomenclature, the stars were divided into fixed stars, Latin stellæ fixæ, which in astrology means the stars and other galactic or intergalactic bodies as recognized by astronomy; and "wandering stars" (Greek: πλανήτης αστήρ, planētēs astēr), which we know as the planets of the Solar System.
The Inuit have traditional names for many constellations, asterisms and stars. Inuit astronomy names thirty-three individual stars, two star clusters, and one nebula. The stars are incorporated into 16 or 17 asterisms, though seven stand alone with individual names.