Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffW1
However this is confusing because there are about 30 constellations in which Alpha is not the brightest star !
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For example we have Orion where Betelgeuse is Alpha Orionis and Rigel is Beta Orionis and is about 0.5 magnitudes brighter. Sometimes this has happened because one star has dimmed or another brightened, or they were just measured incorrectly in the first place.
Then there are the ones that have been renamed. For instance Acamar used to be called Achenar. After the time of the Greeks with people observing more southerly stars, Eridanus was extended further south and the name was moved to the new "end of the river".
When it comes to names stars tend to have lots of them:
Code:
NAME ACAMAR * tet01 Eri CCDM J02583-4018A
CD-40 771A CPC 0 1403 CPD-40 253A
CSI-40 253 42 CSI-40 771 22 FK5 106
GC 3584 GCRV 1661 HD 18622
HR 897 IDS 02545-4042 A N30 613
PLX 624 PPM 307195 ROT 404
SACS 63 SAO 216113 SKY# 4464
WDS J02583-4018A
Code:
NAME ACHERNAR * alf Eri ALS 16724
CD-57 316 CPC 20 447 CPD-57 334
EM* CDS 176 FK5 54 GC 1979
GCRV 916 GEN# +1.00010144 GSC 08478-01395
HD 10144 HIC 7588 HIP 7588
HR 472 IRAS 01358-5729 JP11 517
2MASS J01374284-5714119 N30 335 NSV 15353
PLX 344.00 PLX 344 PPM 331199
ROT 233 SAO 232481 SKY# 2444
TD1 938 UBV 1700 UBV M 8330
uvby98 100010144 2XMM J013742.5-571413 [JE82] 39
A name for every occasion.