378 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



NAMES OF THE STAKS. 



A glance at the heavens will make it evident that the problem of 

 designating a star in such a way as to distinguish it from all its neigh- 

 bors must be a difficult one. If such be the case with the comparatively 

 small number of stars visible to the naked eye, how must it be with 

 the vast number that can be seen only with the telescope? In the case 

 of the great mass of telescopic stars we have no method of designation 

 except by the position of the star and its magnitude; but with the 

 brighter stars, and, indeed, with all that have been catalogued, other 

 means of identification are available. 



It is but natural to give a special name to a conspicuous star. That 

 this was done in very early antiquity we know by the allusion to 

 Arcturus in the Book of Job. At least two such names, Castor and 

 Pollux, have come down to us from classical antiquity, but most of the 

 special names given to the stars in modern times are corruptions of 

 certain Arabic designations. As an example we may mention Alde- 

 baran, a corruption of Al Dabaran — The Follower. There is, however, 

 a tendency to replace these special names by a designation of the stars 

 on a system devised by Bayer early in the seventeenth century. 



This system of naming stars is quite analogous to our system of 

 designating persons by a family name and a Christian name. The 

 family name of a star is that of the constellation to which it belongs. 

 The Christian name is a letter of the Greek or Eoman alphabet, or 

 a number. As a number of men in different families may have the 

 same Christian name, so the Greek letter or number may be given to a 

 star in any number of constellations without confusion. 



The work of Bayer was published under the title of 'Uranometria,' 

 of which the first edition appeared in 1601. This work consists mainly 

 of maps of the stars. In marking the stars with letters on the map, 

 the rule followed seems to have been to give the brighter stars the earlier 

 letters in the alphabet. Were this system followed absolutely, the 

 brighter stars should always be called a; the next in order /?, etc. But 

 this is not always the case. Thus in the constellation Gemini, the 

 brighter star is Pollux, which is marked ft , while a is the second 

 brightest. What system, if any, Bayer adopted in detail has been a 

 subject of discussion, but does not appear to have been satisfactorily 

 made out. Quite likely Bayer himself did not attempt accurate obser- 

 vations on the brightness of the stars, but followed the indications 

 given by Ptolemy or the Arabian astronomers. As the number of 

 stars to be named in several constellations exceeds the number of 

 letters in the Greek alphabet, Bayer had recourse, after the Greek 

 alphabet was exhausted, to letters of the Eoman alphabet. In this case 

 the letter A was used as a capital, in order, doubtless, that it should not 

 be confounded with the Greek a. In other cases smaller italics are 



