GENERAL ASTRONOMY ARTICLES

ON the PROPER NAME ‘GACRUX’ and the
NAMING of OTHER SOUTHERN STARS

PROLOGUE

ORIGIN of STAR NAMES

Purposeful naming all the seeable stars in the nighttime sky probably dates far back into prehistory. There is little doubt why people wanted to do this. In the grand heavenly and unmistakable vistas in the nightly southern skies, the brightest stars were usually seen as prominent beacons in identify and recognised familiar star patterns or constellations during the night or throughout the year. This was importantly joined with the highly regular cycles, such as the Earth daily spinning on its axis or its long yearly journey orbiting the Sun. Such clockwork-regularity could be assigned to the practical knowledge of the four seasons or with other natural phenomena such as the coming of seasonal or monsoonal rains, flooding of rivers or even the regular yearly appearances of animals, insects, fruits or even the blooming of flowering plants.

Tying all this into natural recurring events was very useful. No doubt appearance at dusk or at dawn of familiar stars near the local horizon were auspicious signs of regular predictable phenomena. Names given for the brightest first magnitude stars like Sirius, Arcturus, Rigel, Antares, Vega, Aldebaran, and Capella; were likely known even before any human written record. Such nightly emissaries provided a good basis for descriptive stories related to their myths and legends of their personal gods or deities, or even reflections of daily activities such as hunting of wild game for food.

From the beginning of the first human settlements around 8000 BC, each of the brighter stars were deemed of even greater importance, and so began many of the prominent names that were passed down to us. Many we still use today. No doubt, in many Ancient cultures, such representation of the bright constellations mostly lead to some of the older star names being handed down to more modern times.

Good examples are like the orange-coloured first magnitude star, Aldebaran, being the brightest star of the prominent zodiacal constellation — Taurus the Bull. Mythological stories through many millennia talk around the brute power of the bull which became strongly associated with male fertility and masculinity. This central idea became the central or core part of the mythology and worship in some cultures. Around 3500 BC, the ancient Bronze Age Minoans celebrated powerful white bulls with either bull fighting, dedicated dancing rituals. This also appeared mythological bull-headed creature known as the Minotaur, which hidden its lair within the maze known as the Cretan Labyrinth. So the star Aldebaran became the central part of these old legends, mostly because of its prominent orange or reddish colour, representing drips of blood from some animal or human after the dangerous pointed horn of the bull had gorged them. Although to this day we do not really know of the true derivation or origin of the given name of Aldebaran, there is little doubt remains such mythological stories date back well into unrecorded prehistory.

Star names also often directly apply to the nature of the constellation in which they reside. Orion the Hunter is one of the oldest constellations, whose two first magnitude stars of Betelgeuse and Rigel have names relating to his shoulder and foot, respectively, of this very prominent group of stars. Some also say in mythology, that prominent red Betelgeuse is the very place where Taurus, the bull, pierced Orion’s own flesh, causing him to bleed. This story, therefore, forever joins these two constellations together through the Taurian star of Aldebaran.

In time, the naked-eye stars of lesser brightness were also given proper names. These were mostly concerning with some anatomical or geometric portion of some constellation outline. Depending on the culture who described it, the body part sometime became directly assigned as the star name from their common language. Without doubt, this is the most common method of the creation and generation of the now vast and seemingly endless glossary of star names. As many cultures meet and started to exchange knowledge about the stars, these other different alternative assigned names were given to selected stars. As worldly empires came and went, just like the origin of many common words we see in the current modern dictionaries, some star names fell into disuse and were soon quickly forgotten. Others were instead reinvented, as either similar sounding names or recombinations of the various older names. Here these final star names were to become popular and standardised adoptions, even though their true origins were long ago lost in the mists of time.

Since most of the significant old societies and cultures were based in the northern hemisphere, for example, mostly from Europe, Mesopotamia or Persia, Arabia, to the more eastward civilisations like India, China and Japan; they found these numerous adapted star names had become widespread in their popular usage. Hence, the now well documented multiple common names for many of the bright northern stars.

From our southern hemisphere, the less extensive and somewhat more isolated human societies left huge gaps when naming all the southern stars. Throughout human history, more than 90% of people have lived north of the equator, and their cultures had little need to name the southern skies — at least available in written form or verifiable usage. This really affected only five bright southern stars, being; Canopus, Alpha Centauri, Beta Centauri, Acrux and Achernar.

Most commonly names adopted for these stars only date back to the Arabic cultures in 5th Century AD. However, all inhabitants of Australia, Africa and South America had different names for many southern stars dating back many millennia. These names, until recently, were supplanted by the conquering Western societies, suppressing all the more traditional names. We can mostly attribute the loss of these names because these stories of their origin are passed via oral history down through countless generations. As these ancient peoples often have ritualistic secrets only shared among the elders or their spiritual leaders, those outside the group were not privy to how their stars were originally named. This often was made worst by not knowing or desiring to learn the local language, where in time, enforcement of western values meant the original information and meaning became fragmented or was simply just lost to us forever. *

FEATURED ARTICLE

PROPER NAMING of SOUTHERN STARS

On a highly personal note, I have, for several decades, been particularly annoyed about the use, or should I say abuse and disuse, of the given or proper name for the bright southern star γ Cru or Gamma Crucis. Apparently, some seemingly bold upstart American (Yankee) observer named it Gacrux, which, from what I can determine, happened sometime during the early 20th Century. This bright orange star is the 23rd brightest naked-eye star in the sky, which has the most atrocious, highly inelegant, and unsophisticated name — at least when compared to many other stars in the sky.

I still after several decades cannot find out its origin, but I am sure I eventually will!

If the I.A.U. really has ratified this quite horrible and terribly sounding name! Well… some drastic action might be necessary At least, ‘Sky Atlas 2000.0’ Vol.1, pg.313 (Edition 1), has put brackets around the name. I pray like hell that this is only provisional. The name, anyway, brings terrible thoughts to the mind. Perhaps our dear Gacrux is some kind of new drug or unmentionably placed suppository.

Alternatively. Perhaps we should name it Aurantiacus, being the Latin word describing an orange-red colour, or the shortened Aurantia (au-ran-ti-a) that describes an orange dye used in biological stains or even late-19th century orange coloured filters. Another good possibility could be Ochraceus or Ochrac (ouch-rack), which describes the colour of reddish-yellow – and appropriately based on colour ranges often seen between all younger and older observers. (Oddly, there are not real words for the colour orange in Latin, whose only assigned descriptor is mostly deemed as a kind of red.) In my own humble opinion ; the order of Crux stars as; Acrux, Mimosa, Aurantia, just has a nice gentle ambience to it!

But what of all the other southern star names?

Well at least Alpha Crucis does perhaps have some ring of originality in the name Acrux. I think this name is clever, being simply based on the combination of Alpha as ‘a’ and Crux. Its origin seems to be from the renowned 19th Century American astronomer and populist, Elijah H. Burritt (1794-1838), who had published many astronomical books and star atlases, prior and after his death. Most were just directly aimed at the general American population, along with several beautifully illustrated and useful star atlases between the years 1833 and the subsequent updates by other authors that ended in 1856. By the 1845 5th edition, sales had reached over quarter-of-a-million copies — somewhat equivalent in popularity to modern versions of “Sky Atlas 2000.0”. Much of the southern stars nomenclature was first given by Burritt, and some of this still remains entrenched in our general astronomical vernacular.

Fig. 1. SHOWING CRUX, CENTAURUS and ACRUX
Elijah H. Burritt’s “Geography of the Heavens” (1856)

This figure shows just a small segment of Burritt’s Star Atlas (1856), showing the brightest star of Crux first named as Acrux. It also shows the outlines of the southern portion of Centaurus, Circinus and Musca. As there was no official agreement with the constellations in the 1850s, the names are varied. I.e. Crux is Cruz, and Musca is called Musca Indica — the Indian Fly.

There are also many strange peculiarities to some of these star positions, with Beta Crucis too far west and Gamma Crucis is not properly aligned with Acrux. Also Alpha Centauri (sometimes dubiously labelled Bungula) and Beta Centauri (Agena) are too wide apart, even accounting for the large proper motion of α Cen. Furthermore, they and the Crux stars should all be about 1° to 2° further south, while the brightish star right next to α Cen does not exist. (This could be θ Circini, some 2.8°SE away, but this is 5th magnitude star and lies along the eastern arm of the set of compasses.

The figure shows ε Cen, placed in the mid-belly of the Centaur, however, is correctly positioned. α Circini is as well oddly not located as the central hinge but has been made as an extension of the hind legs towards the centaur hoof. This makes the compasses much smaller in size, and importantly does not match the quite obvious asterism making the thin triangle constituting of the stars α, β and γ Cir. (3.2v, 4.1v and 4.5v, respectively.)

In summary, this section of the map seems poorly made, and it remains uncertain how these stellar positions were obtained, though we do assumed it was an adopted from an atlas made by Alexander Jamieson. Clearly E.H. Burritt never saw these stars for himself and relied on other sources. I did a basic check with the Paramatta Star Catalogue (1831) and that of Lacaillé (1752), but the places do not match this chart. Why, for example, is the Spanish name Cruz given for the Cross, and the Roman given name for the star is presented as Acrux / Crux? (Perhaps a clue that the positional source might likely to have been Spanish in origin?) There are other oddities too. The Milky Way is much broader and more irregular in brightness than what is displayed. Moreover, the overlaid the famous Coalsack and the other dark regions are not shown. Any visual observer should have realised this even with a quick glance.

One of the first questions to why someone would want to name stars they could NOT see seems just utterly crazy. However, Burritt true target was more than likely hidden in his faith and strict Baptist upbringing. His single motive appears to be derived from the Biblical quote in Psalms, 147, 4, saying; “He [God] telleth the number of the stars ; he giveth them all their names.” No doubt, Elijah Burritt felt he had either some divine revelation or some sacred duty to teach (or preach) all the star names to the masses. Most of the brighter ones as seen in the northern skies already had given names, with many derived from ancient times — links no doubt to the very times of their many celebrated Christian prophets. However, waiting in the south were a great plethora of unnamed stars. If they were so-named, then the omnipotent presence of God would be elevated even higher in the world. So doing God’s will was the motivation.

Elijah presumably coined the star name Acrux, even though from the high latitude of +41° North, he could never have really observed the star himself! Another is the orange star of Alpha Trianguli Austrinus or Atria, which combines the word alpha and the first three letters of the southern constellation of Triangulum plus ‘A’ from the second word Austrinius. This seems not to be the name derived by Elijah Burritt, though I could not really find the reference to it in any other common literature sources. Again, I have to presume it was from another fellow American star-naming mimic. At least in “Sky Atlas 2000.0”, Vol.1, pg.404, gives the star its provisional name. A better name in my opinion would perhaps be the prettier word Atriaus. This usefully means this star cannot be confused with stars of the other small northern constellation of Triangulum. Alpha Triangulum Austrinius perhaps deserves an improved (I.A.U. ratified) proper name, if only because it is also the 33rd brightest star in the sky.

Interestingly, this method of some name combined with the constellation for star names is not new. The first instance was the alternative name for the open cluster of The Pleiades, as listed in Bayer’s first 16th Century star atlas. John Chilmead, an English writer on celestial and terrestrial globes, terms the Pleiades instead as the Latin name of Tauria Quasi Taurinae. This name, we believe, became bastardised to the shortened form ‘Atauria’ sometime during medieval times. This nomenclature did not stay, as the Biblical references referred to the older name of the Pleiades. We cannot put forward the name ‘Atauria’, as it is easily confused with the bright orange-red star of Alpha Tauri / Aldebaran.

Crux’s Other Stars

Some have even stretched this rather cold impersonal draconian imperialism even further. In one of my first copies of an astronomical computer program that ran on the now near prehistoric Windows 3.1 was the ye ol’ ‘Sky Map’ Version 2.2. Here the proper name for Beta Crucis was given as Becrux! Nowhere else can I find an earlier reference to this name. However, the actual proper name for this star is commonly referred as Mimosa. I also believe this is the same name has not been even ratified by the I.A.U. either, yet it is the darn 20th brightest star in the sky! In Sky Atlas 2000.0, the charts and Volume 1 of the atlas, has no proper name for Mimosa, nor in fact, any other name is even given!

Southern observers should also find some better name to select for Gamma Crucis. In total disgust, I think we send back Gacrux to the silly Americans whom damn well named it this!

Then while we’re at it, what should the brand new proper names be for the plainly obvious stars in Crux of Delta (δ) and Epsilon (ε) Crucis?

Both these stars also deserve proper names, as they are both very conspicuously bright at 2.8v and 3.6v magnitude and are plainly obvious. Why not? If both these stars were in, say, Ursa Major they surely would be! If we don’t look out, they will probably give them predictable Americanised names, like Decrux and Epicrux! Yuckee! For bluish Delta Crucis, perhaps Dimosa would be appropriate, being similar to the fellow blue star Mimosa, but dimmer. (At least it is uses a slightly different but clever naming system.)

As the symmetry breaker for the fifth and faintest star of the Cross, another replacement name for wee Epsilon Crucis could be perhaps be Castaneus or Castane, because it does aptly describes the similar dirty-looking chestnut brown in its dismal colouration. Another for ε Cru could be Ictericus, Icteric or Icter being a slightly jaundiced yellow colour. Under this naming regime, my preferred names for the five stars of the Cross would then become;

Acrux, Mimosa, Aurantia, Dimosa and Icter.

All these are quite logical placed and are rather descriptive as well. Any takers? Oh well, it might not happen, but then again, there is nothing at all wrong with free-thought and dreaming!

Other Missing Southern Star Names

Stars in the southern skies missing given names is not so unusual. A total of an amazing twenty other southern constellations have no names for ANY of the bright stars they contain! These include all the visually miserable little southern constellations of;

Antlia, Apus, Ara, Caelum, Chameleon, Circinus,
Corona Australis, Fornax, Horologium, Hydrus,
Mensa, Microscopium, Musca, Octans, Pictor,
Pyxis, Reticulum, Telescopium, Tucana & Volans.

Within the Top 100 of stellar magnitudes, similar problems exist. Most of southern ones are yet to be given proper names. They include;

• 41st brightest : δ Vel / Delta Velorum
• 61st brightest : β Gru / Beta Grus
• 72nd brightest : γ Cen / Gamma Centauri
• 84th brightest : ε Cen / Epsilon Centauri

Note: Epsilon Centauri also points towards ω Cen / Omega Centauri — also bizarrely still nameless even though it is directly pointing towards the brightest globular in the sky! This is also the common way southern observers find the amazing globe of stars making up ω Centauri.

Pavo the Peacock

Now what about Alpha Pavonis or α Pav? This is a bright star with the odd name of Peacock, even though Pavo has the English name also means Peacock. Unlike most of the other constellations, the star names are normally is the description of the anatomical or physical part of the imagined figure representing this constellation. In this particular instance, it does not. A reference to Alpha Pavonis own inherited proper name is definitely American. Being the 46th brightest star, its particularly solitary and lonely place in the sky, the star really does deserve some much better name than this seemingly ‘trumped-up’ version. Perhaps, in this instance, it should be really called Apavo, or which I simply adore, Pavlova!

For those who do not know, Pavlova the is the name of deliciously sweet, being a famous and favourite Australian or New Zealand dessert! The arguments has been truly monumental for decades. In the future, this very issue of the country of origin of this sweet dish could lead to the possibility of the breakout of war between these nations! Yes, it is that serious!

Yet, Pavo is also a very peculiar constellation, because no other star in the entire constellation has been given any proper name!

Star Names in Argo

More drastically, if I had my way, I would change the name of α Car / Canopus, whose name would then become Arobur (sounds like a good name for some new fragrant perfume!), Acar or Acarina. How about the really modern hip name, I Coramba; but this is perhaps too reminiscent of the Simpson’s character Bart Simpson! (and I’d probably be sued for breaching some brand naming law. Heavens to mergatroids!, aka. from the old cartoon character Snagglepuss played during the 1960s )

Another star that also deserves a much better name is β Car / Beta Carinae near the shared border of the southern constellations of Carina and Chamaeleon. Beta Carinae is the 32nd brightest star in the sky having the proper name of Miaplacidus, as first given by Burritt in his 1856 book “Geography”. Origin of the name Miaplacidus is not known, but again, this given name is just another corruption being almost definitely invented by Burritt William Higgins, the presumed authority regarding star names, derives it from the Arabic name of Miah, as Miyah. It was Edmond Halley in 1679 that originally placed this 1.86V magnitude star in the now defunct constellation of Robur Carlolinium or Charles’ Oak. The ‘Oak’ was kept until the explorer La Caillé complained that its addition totally ruined completely the grand constellation of Argo. Due to his very forthright comments, Robur disappeared (probably in spite) from the charts between the years 1730 and 1735. In addition, the star has changed designation three times, from Alpha Roburis, then Beta Argûs to the today’s Beta Carinae. This blue-white star perhaps should be called the more modern Beargûs, Berobur, Becar or even Becarina, presuming we follow the American precedents.

Under the missing bright southern stars names in the Top 100 (above), the problem mostly appear within the False Cross, which were collectively once in the prominent part of now defunct constellation of Argo Navis, are likely the most perplexing. All four False Cross stars are Delta Velorum, along with Kappa Velorum or Markab (Markeb), Epsilon Carinae or Avior; and Iota Carinae or Turais. As only the last two of these four stars listed above are named. The first two of these stars mentioned have never had truly popular names, and considering the False Cross is a major asterism in the southern sky remains amazing silly.

δ Car is presumably and very questionably known by the not very popular Chinese name of Koo She. This seems solely to appear within Richard Allen’s “Star Names” (1899) pg.73. However, Allen actually says Koo She is TWO stars and therefore is likely an asterism, comprising δ and ω. Wisely, I’d think Delta Velorum here really deserves some decent alternative proper name, if only because of its overall brightness. Koo She’s presumed recognised name is mostly opportunistic way of slipping in naming nomenclature just for the sake of popularity. Its name is supposed to be associated with a “bow and arrow”, but its meaning has lost its association with the constellation. So should concluded the adopted name should be either Koo or She? Perhaps my imaginary Develor is possibly better suited? At the moment it appears to me as nameless.

Three ‘False Cross’ stars that are formally named include;

ε Car or Avior was only relatively recently named whose origin became first adopted by the English-based Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (H.M.N.A.O.) in the 1930s, mainly to assist navigation by aviators the Royal Air Force (R.A.F.) So again, this is another example of a mishmash of names based this time on its practical use. This origin is also similar to the second magnitude star α Pav [See above], was also named by those darn imperialistic English HMNAO do-gooders, who can’t even see it!

ι Car is named Aspidiske, or the usually preferred Turais. Its name means “little shield”, and refers to the decoration placed near the keel of the ship. Aspidiske is Greek word for this, where Turais is the Arabic name. Less frequently used name of Scutulum is again the same but in Latin!

κ Car is named Markab or the usually preferred Markeb. The star, according to Allen, derives from a table of stars made in 1521, where it last word applies to the alleged name. It is often said that the name is Arabic, which is the name that also applies to 2.5 magnitude star. Alpha Pegasi / α Peg. Its meaning is equivalent to a kind of ship or saddle, making sense with a ship like the Argo or a saddle on a flying horse (though legend says Pegasus was without a saddle.) I suspected the name was slotted in after Pegasus was named, yet why this was done will remain unknown to us as no reference explains it.

Clearly all this craziness is really quite maddening. Why name Iota three separate times, and all essentially have the exactly the same meaning, and then have two other stars so nearby without any name at all! Worst, Iota is the third brightest of these stars in the constellation at 2.3v magnitude, but nearby Delta Velorum is roughly 0.4 magnitudes brighter, being placed oppose star of Iota in the False Cross that has no given name at all. Just plainly crackers! Perhaps the False Cross, with the total emphasis on the word false, is not just because it only mimics the brighter Southern Cross, but because it goes against the general ‘rules of engagement’. This annoying problem notably does not happen in most of the other bright constellations in the sky. Frankly, it would not happen nor would be ever tolerated by many amateur astronomers in the northern hemisphere, now would it?

Also, 55th brightest star in the sky, Lambda Velorum or λ Vel has been lately named as Suhail (or Alsuhail / Al suhail.) This certainly is not traditional. It comes from the Arabic word meaning either brilliant, beautiful or glorious. However, it is brighter than Iota Carinae but fainter by just a smidgen than the now still unnamed Delta Carinae.

As I can say in just one word.

N U T S !

Some Interesting Personal Choices for Southern Stars

Southern Star Names : The Bottom Line

So why should we bother naming these stars?

I believe, after teaching astronomy classes over several decades, the naming of stars in the sky is quite important. They set out to find regions of the unfamiliar constellations for the astronomically uninitiated. Naming stars should quite naturally have some degree of romance and history, instead of the cold hard science that astronomy sometimes normally capitulates too. People while learning the stars, will often ask, “What star is that?“ Any proper name at least gives them the appropriate head start. It also does make the subject of astronomy interesting!

To give some really good examples. When I describe the stars in the constellation of Crux, I point out Acrux, then Mimosa, Gacrux, Delta Crucis then Epsilon Crucis. A terrible syntax gap here is plainly obvious. I even once taught some overly enthusiastic eleven year-old children some years ago;

“What are the names of the stars in the Southern Cross?”,
one perplexed child asked.

Now, you try to adequately describe to children the names of Delta and Epsilon Crucis by their designated Greek letters and genitives! Is this important for school children? YES! They darn well see it, the little darlings, everyday on both the Australian and New Zealand National Flags!

A most entertaining proposal, at least that I can immediately think of, is the naming of the four brightest stars of Crux (Alpha to Delta.) As Baron Alexander von Humboldt first pointed out, these names should be based on the four cardinal virtues of Justice, Prudence, Fortitude and Temperance. In terms of Acrux, Becrux, Gacrux and Delta Crucis, our northern hemisphere counterparts could greatly learn from these uses of the Humboldt star names. When directed to our American astronomical counterparts, these ‘new’ names could be well affirmed, justified or formally rejected!

The name for Epsilon Crucis in Humboldt’s scheme should be?

Well, I will just leave that to you!

An apt conclusion to this text is a general quotation from the very last line at the end of Dante’s famous ‘Inferno’, which is particularly suited to the gist of this wicked tome;

Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.

I’ll say no more…

Andrew James : 03rd December 2016

General References

1. Kanas, Nick, “Star Maps : History, Artistry and Cartography”, Springer (2007)
2. Allen, R.H., “Star Names : Their Lore and Meaning”, Dover Pub. (1963)

Notes

1) In the real world, simply the I.A.U. controls all the astronomical names and terminology, so this also does not mean that star names cannot be adopted, added or changed. The I.A.U. is seemingly, and likely fortunately for us, is a highly democratic and non-profit organisation whose decisions are determined by established international agreements. If many responses to some particularly favoured name were suggested and they become commonly used, they could be submitted for ratification, changed or just updated.

2) Any useful suggestions or comments on common star names should be sent an email letter to me for publishing into this web space. Meanwhile, an inquisitive letter has just been (yet again) sent to the particular I.A.U. Commission about information on the proper names used for the bright southern stars. I will happily report the responses to these Southern Astronomical Delights Pages if I ever do get some presentable reply.

My Fellow Amateurs. Any ideas or comments?

Last Update : 01st December 2016

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