Re: VMs: Folio 68r3

["Larry Roux" <lroux@xxxxxxx>]

Only alpha is named in history near as I can tell. 

According to Allen: "Caput Trianguli was translated "Ras al Muthallath" by the Arabian astronomers.  It is a half-magnitude inferior to beta, although the latter bears no name.  Together these two were the Arabs' Al Mizan, the Scale-Beam"




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Larry Roux
Syracuse University
lroux@xxxxxxx
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>>> incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 12/11/03 23:04 PM >>>
Hi David,

At 20:46 11/12/2003 +0000, David Bianchi wrote:
>I've checked the page of the VMS f68r3 and I think that in the quadrant 
>where the supposed Pleyades are, the stand alone star could be Aldebaran. 
>In addition the three star in the quadrant opposite to the Pleyades ( 3 
>stars only) could be related to the Trianguli constellation.
>
>For reference see a star map.
>
>Could someone have more info or suggestions to add?

Aldebaran has been suggested many times over the years for this star: Rene 
Zandbergen also suggested (in 1996) that one might instead consider the 
1054 supernova in Taurus as a possible candidate. There's quite a lot more 
in the list archives if you're interested in comparing notes.

However, the correspondence with Trianguli (catalogued by Ptolemy) appears 
to be a new suggestion. Don Latham listed Alpha Tri[anguli]:-
         http://www.voynich.nu/extra/donstars.html

Alpha Tri = Metallah; Mothallah; Atria; Caput Trianguli; Ras al Muthallah; 
Elmuthalleth
         http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/hr/0544.html

More on Tri from Peoria:
         http://www.astronomical.org/constellations/tri.html

"Triangulum, the Triangle, is a very old group named originally named 
Deltotron by the Greeks after the Greek letter Delta, which its shape 
resembles. It was later associated with several forms of triangle. The 
Romans saw it as the island Sicily in the sky. There are several stars just 
south of today's Triangle which were formally called Triangulum Minor (6,1 
0, and 12/13 Trianguli). This small group has been discarded by modem 
astronomers."
         http://www.csulb.edu/~gordon/constel.html

Ptolemy's Almagest (contents, not description):-
         http://astro.isi.edu/reference/almagest.html

However, on f68r3, *all three* stars have labels, though only Alpha appears 
to have been named historically. Does anyone know if Beta Tri and Gamma Tri 
have ever had names? I can't find any on the Internet... but that may not 
be the last word on the subject. :-)

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....

PS: I drifted away from the subject after my Astronomy O-level many years 
ago, so that's about as far as I can go here. :-/ 


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