In astronomy, star names, in contrast to star designations, are proper names of stars that have emerged from usage in pre-modern astronomical traditions. Lists of these names appear in the following articles:
A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object.
A star catalogue is an astronomical catalogue that lists stars. In astronomy, many stars are referred to simply by catalogue numbers. There are a great many different star catalogues which have been produced for different purposes over the years, and this article covers only some of the more frequently quoted ones. Star catalogues were compiled by many different ancient people, including the Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese, Persians, and Arabs. They were sometimes accompanied by a star chart for illustration. Most modern catalogues are available in electronic format and can be freely downloaded from space agencies' data centres. The largest is being compiled from the spacecraft Gaia and thus far has over a billion stars.
In astronomy, stars have a variety of different stellar designations and names, including catalogue designations, current and historical proper names, and foreign language names.
The following are lists of stars. These are astronomical objects that spend some portion of their existence generating energy through thermonuclear fusion.
Proper motion is the astrometric measure of the observed changes in the apparent places of stars or other celestial objects in the sky, as seen from the center of mass of the Solar System, compared to the abstract background of the more distant stars.
Mirach, Bayer designation Beta Andromedae, Latinized from β Andromedae, is a prominent star in the northern constellation of Andromeda. It is northeast of the Great Square of Pegasus and is potentially visible to all observers north of latitude 54° S. It is commonly used by stargazers to find the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy NGC 404, also known as Mirach's Ghost, is seven arcminutes away from Mirach.
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young protostar orbited by a protoplanetary disk.
All stars but one can be associated with an IAU constellation. IAU constellations are areas of the sky. Although there are only 88 IAU constellations, the sky is actually divided into 89 irregularly shaped boxes as the constellation Serpens is split into two separate sections, Serpens Caput to the west and Serpens Cauda to the east.
Nakshatra is the term for lunar mansion in Hindu astrology. A nakshatra is one of 27 sectors along the ecliptic. Their names are related to a prominent star or asterisms in or near the respective sectors. In essence, a nakshatra simply is a constellation. Every nakshatra is divided into four padas related to the Chara Dhama, a set of four pilgrimage sites in India.
Epsilon Aquarii, Latinized from ε Aquarii, is a single star in the equatorial zodiac constellation of Aquarius, located near the western constellation border with Capricornus. It has the proper name Albali, now formally recognized by the IAU. This is a white-hued star that is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 3.77. Based upon parallax measurements taken during the Hipparcos mission, it is located at a distance of approximately 208 light-years (64 pc) from the Sun with an absolute magnitude of −0.46. The star is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −15 km/s.
Beta2 Sagittarii is a star in the zodiac constellation of Sagittarius. It is visible to the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of +4.29. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 24.31 mas as seen from Earth, it is located 134 light-years from the Sun.
Eta Eridani, officially named Azha, is a giant star in the constellation of Eridanus. Based on parallax measurements taken during the Hipparcos mission, it is approximately 137 light-years from the Sun.
λ Ophiuchi, Latinized as Lambda Ophiuchi, is a triple star system in the equatorial constellation of Ophiuchus. It has the traditional name Marfik, which now applies exclusively to the primary component. The system is visible to the naked eye as a faint point of light with an apparent visual magnitude of 3.82. It is located approximately 173 light-years from the Sun, based on its parallax, but is drifting closer with a radial velocity of –16 km/s.
In astronomy, an equinox is either of two places on the celestial sphere at which the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator. Although there are two such intersections, the equinox associated with the Sun's ascending node is used as the conventional origin of celestial coordinate systems and referred to simply as "the equinox". In contrast to the common usage of spring/vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the celestial coordinate system equinox is a direction in space rather than a moment in time.
Babylonian astronomy collated earlier observations and divinations into sets of Babylonian star catalogues, during and after the Kassite rule over Babylonia. These star catalogues, written in cuneiform script, contained lists of constellations, individual stars, and planets. The constellations were probably collected from various other sources. The earliest catalogue, Three Stars Each, mentions stars of Akkad, of Amurru, of Elam and others. Various sources have theorized a Sumerian origin for these Babylonian constellations, but an Elamite origin has also been proposed. A connection to the star symbology of Kassite kudurru border stones has also been claimed, but whether such kudurrus really represented constellations and astronomical information aside from the use of the symbols remains unclear.
An astronomical catalog or catalogue is a list or tabulation of astronomical objects, typically grouped together because they share a common type, morphology, origin, means of detection, or method of discovery. The oldest and largest are star catalogues. Hundreds have been published, including general ones and special ones for such items as infrared stars, variable stars, giant stars, multiple star systems, star clusters, and so forth.
NameExoWorlds is the name of various projects managed by the International Astronomical Union (I.A.U.) to encourage names to be submitted for astronomical objects, which would later be considered for official adoption by the organization.