dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (05/26/85)
Some stars are called by more than one proper name. We'll tell you about one of these -- after this. May 26 The Jewel Star The names for the stars often come from the Arabic. They sometimes sound a little strange to our ears -- and people often aren't sure how to pronounce them. You hear a lot of different pronunciations for the stars -- both SPEE-ka and SPY-ka for the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, for example. You probably have your own favorites when it comes to pronunciations. But here's something else about the names for the stars. Some stars have two different proper names. A classic example is the brightest star in the constellation Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown. This star is called Alphecca -- and also Gemma. Gemma means Pearl of the Crown. Alphecca, the same star by a different name, means pretty much the same thing -- Bright One of the Dish. Alphecca is probably an older name than Gemma. You can see this star -- and its constellation -- if you have a dark-enough sky. The constellation is in the east each evening now. It looks very much like a small half-circle. To find it, let your eyes rove through the eastern half of the sky some evening until they rest on a pattern of stars in this half-circle shape. That's the constellation Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown. Gemma -- also called Alphecca -- is the brightest star in the crown. It's a close binary star -- situated so that the two stars eclipse each other from our vantagepoint -- located some 75 light-years away. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin