Achernar
Arabic name آخر النهر (āḫiru ʾn-nahr) meaning, the End of the River; originally used for θ Eri that was considered the end of the river in the ancient star catalog (Almagest). The name was transferred to α Eri in early modern times (around 1600) when the constellation was extended south to this new terminus.[1]
Etymology and History
In Ptolemy's Almagest (137 CE), the last star in the list of stars in the constellation The River Ποταμοῦ ἀστερισμός (modern Eridanus) is given as:
| id | Greek (Heiberg 1898) | English (Toomer 1984) | ident. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ποταμοῦ ἀστερισμός | The River constellation | ||
| 34 | ὁ ἔσχατος τοῦ Ποταμοῦ λαμπρός | The last star of the river, the bright one | tet Eri |
translated to Arabic this gives ...
| src: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | ... آخر النهر | ... | tet Eri |
This was abbreviated and misread in various ways in early modern time; e.g. Acermar, Achernar, Alcarnahar... and many more variants of the spelling.
Mythology
IAU Working Group on Star Names
The name was discussed and approved by the IAU WGSN in 2016.
Weblinks
Reference
- References (general)
- References (early modern)
- Ian Ridpath's website (Star Tales )
- ↑ Kunitzsch, Paul; Smart, Tim (2006). A Dictionary of Modern star Names: A Short Guide to 254 Star Names and Their Derivations (2nd rev. ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Sky Pub.
