Egyptian star names in media
Barcelona – 9 September 2026.
Jacinto Antón, a well-known journalist and outreacher, specialised in ancient Egypt, reported in El País, the most important Spanish newspaper, about a conference held at the University of Barcelona and mentioned specifically the attempts to put ancient Egyptian stars names “back” into the international sky.
The headline reads:
Spanish original
Cónclave de egiptólogos en Barcelona:
un apasionante baño de tumbas,
templos, momias y cocodrilos
El VIII Congreso Iberoamericano de Egiptología en la UAB,
en el que se ha anunciado el hallazgo de una tumba inédita
en Saqqara, reúne a directores de misiones arqueológicas
españolas en el país del Nilo
English translation
Conference of Egyptologists in Barcelona:
a fascinating immersion in tombs,
temples, mummies and crocodiles
The 8th Ibero-American Congress of Egyptology at the UAB,
at which the discovery of a previously unknown tomb
in Saqqara was announced, brings together the directors of Spanish archaeological missions
in the land of the Nile
In his chronicle of the conference he mentions:
… Una preciosa comunicación del astrofísico Juan Antonio Belmonte y el egiptólogo José Lull … y ha revelado el entusiasta plan para ir colocado en el cielo nombres de estrellas del antiguo Egipto a base de bautizar las que no tiene todavía ningún nombre propio asignado.
[A fascinating paper by astrophysicist Juan Antonio Belmonte and Egyptologist José Lull … and has revealed an enthusiastic plan to assign ancient Egyptian star names to stars in the sky—specifically by bestowing names upon those that do not yet have a proper name].
Juan Belmonte remarks “we used our last 3 minutes of our talk at VIII CIE on Stars of Ancient Egypt to introduce the WGSN initiative to put back Egyptian names in the sky”. Meanwhile, the WGSN has drawn the images of the ancient constellations of Wja, the Ship in Egypt and its Babylonian counterpart MA2.GUR8 who donated the IAU star names
Proudly and full of joy, Belmonte summarises: “I have nothing to say. We have Magur and Heryibwia close together in the sky once more. What else could the designers of the Dendera Zodiac have desired?”
2 Responses
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