Ian Ridpath’s Star Tales

Myths, legends, and history of all 88 constellations

plus 24 obsolete ones

Proper names of stars

Ian Ridpath    Member, IAU Working Group on Star Names

In 2016, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) set up a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to compile a catalogue of officially sanctioned proper names for the brightest stars. This working group rectified a long-standing anomaly: although the IAU had adopted an official list of 88 constellations in 1922, it had never rationalized the multiplicity of popular star names encountered in books, magazines, and on star charts.

The IAU’s reluctance to get involved was understandable, since professional astronomers rarely used names for anything other than a handful of the brightest stars; instead, they identified stars by their designations in various catalogues. However, amateurs and the general public continued to use popular names for hundreds of naked-eye stars taken from various sources, which led to confusion. Some stars were known by more than one name. Some names had various alternative spellings. And certain names were reused for more than one star. 

The IAU Working Group has not only brought this profusion of conflicting names to an end, it has also introduced many new names from non-western cultures. In doing so the WGSN helps to preserve intangible astronomical heritage in the same way that UNESCO recognizes certain cultural traditions and practices as intangible cultural heritage.

The IAU star name catalogue contains hundreds of entries and is growing all the time. The table below lists some of the most commonly encountered IAU-approved names for stars, with their Bayer or Flamsteed identifications. Names marked with an asterisk (*) are navigation stars and are listed in The Nautical Almanac. The complete list can be found on the Working Group’s web page.

Want to name a star?

If you are thinking of buying a star name from a commercial company, read the International Astronomical Union’s statement on this practice.

Fake star names

Unfortunately, vandals have introduced a number of fake star names into Wikipedia. These have since been removed by vigilant editors, but not before some of them were picked up and repeated by the unwary. An example is the name ‘Urodelus’, applied to Epsilon Ursae Minoris. This can now be found in a number of sources but all lead back to the same bogus Wikipedia entry. See here for a list of known or suspected fake star names on Wikipedia. If you see any of these names repeated elsewhere, you know where they came from!