Albali

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann, ASE Tech Team, Youla Azkarrula

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Albali

Asterism Info
Native	البالع
IPA	[al.bali]
Translation	swallower
Position (2000)
Right ascension	311.9189566
Declination	-9.495776927
Area	0 sq. deg.
Stars
Bright stars	1
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	1
Stars brighter than 3.00m	0
Brightest star	Albali (3.77m)
Taxonomy
category of asterism	IAU-Star Name
IAU- constellations	Aqr

Albali is a modern star name adopted by the International Astronomical Union in the IAU-Catalog of Star Names (IAU-CSN). Its origin is Arabic. It is the name of HIP 102618 (ε Aqr, HR 7950) in constellation Aqr.

Etymology and History

From the Arabic word bali(, "swallower", used in an Arabic discussion pertaining to the Arabic lunar mansion name sa(d bula( (given for ε, μ and ν Aqr; of unknown meaning). In recent times the Arabic article al- was added to bali( and the word was applied as a star name.

Variants

• Albulaan
• Al Bulaan
• Al Buläān
• Sa’d Bula
• Bulaʿān

History and Transformation

• The transliteration “Al Bulaan” appears in Sherburne 1675) “The Sphere of Marcus Manilius made an English Poem with Annotations and an Astronomical Appendix”.
• “Sa’d Bula'” Kunitzsch (1997) for mu and eps Aqr
• Bulaʿān, the two Bulaʿs, which should be ε and ν Aqr (Khalid AlAjaji). The primary source of this is al-Ṣufī as he defines the lunar station Saʿd Bulaʿ as 3 stars.
• “Al Buläān” was 21st Arab manziil consisting of eps, nu, mu Aqr (Allen 1899)
• Rhoads (1971): “Albulan I” for mu Aqr and “Albulan II” for nu Aqr

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name was adopted by the IAU WGSN on 2016/09/12.

Weblinks

• Website of the IAU WGSN: https://exopla.net/

Reference

• References (general)
• Kunitzsch, Paul; Smart, Tim (2006). A Dictionary of Modern star Names: A Short Guide to 254 Star Names and Their Derivations (2nd rev. ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Sky Pub.