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On Wed, 7 Jun 2000, Dena wrote:
> I am confused about certain star magnitudes...
> Can you tell me what the difference is between
> Omicron 1
> Omicron 2, and
> simply Omicron?
Stars with greek letters in their names were catalogued long ago by the
Greeks and later cataloguers. The stars were named in order of apparent
brightness, ranging from alpha (the brightest) on down to omega (the
faintest, and if that many stars were visible in the constellation).
Later, telescopic observations revealed that many stars are binary
systems. If the stars are easily separable in a telescope, the are
sometimes renamed to "Omicron 1 and Omicron 2" for use on star charts.
So, let's say that "Omicron Imaginariae" is a star in the "Imaginary"
constellation that was catalogued by the Greeks, but later turned out to
be a wide double star, with the components renamed to Omicron 1 and
Omicron 2. Then, Omicron 1 & 2 are the individual stars, and "Omicron"
would be the single point of light visible to the naked eye.
> Also is there a star named Geinah meaning "wing" in both Corvus and Cygnus?
I do not know for certain if there is a star with this name in both
constellations, but that would not surprise me. Corvus is a crow and
Cygnus is a swan, both of which are birds and so would have wings. I do
know that the star name "Deneb" (meaning "tail") exists in multiple
constellations.
To find out more about the constellations (including star names, so your
question can be definitely answered), check out the Constellations Web
Page: http://www.dibonsmith.com/constel.htm
Sincerely,
Kurtis Williams
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