Islamic names of the stars

Many of the star names in the sky comes from Arabic and Latin names. In this article I will list celestial bodies that have Arabic names, and some connoisseurs, or those who have only heard of those bodies may not have imagined how they've got their names.
Ptolemy, who lived in Egypt around the years 100-180, in Alexandria, collected Greek descriptions of 1022 stars, in the book "The System of Astronomy" ("Almagest") . His book was translated into Arabic twice in the ninth century. Many Arab names in this book remained used as "default" names.

Aldebaran - Al-Dabaran - "survivor" Pleiades
Altair - (Al-Nasr) La-Ta'ir - flying (eagle)
Betelgeuse - Yad al-Jauza - hand of Orion
Deneb - Dhanab ad-Dajajah - bird tail
Porter - Al-Hamal - ram
Mirak - Al-Mi'zar - loin-cloth
Mizar -  Miʾzar - apron
Rigel - Ar-Rijl - the foot
Saiph - As-Saif - sword
Vega - Al-Waqi '- "prone" Eagle
Milky Way - Kahkashan - is the Persian word for Milky Way
Andromeda Galaxy - "small cloud" - was the Arabic name for the modern name of the Andromeda Galaxy, which was first discovered by Al-Sufi, and mentioned it in his book of fixed stars.

Above: Betelgeuse through my telescope. Date: October 21. 2012

Posted in: Stars