Zibbatu

Not to be confused with ZIB.

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann, ASE Tech Team

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modern star name (CC BY Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU WGSN)

Zibbatu

Asterism Info
Native	Zibbatu
Translation	Tails of the Swallow
Position (2000)
Right ascension	285.7658552
Declination	-19.2456835
Area	0 sq. deg.
Stars
Bright stars	1
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	1
Stars brighter than 3.00m	0
Brightest star	Zibbatu (6m)
Taxonomy
category of asterism	IAU-Star Name
IAU- constellations	Psc

(CC BY Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU WGSN)

Zibbatu is a modern star name adopted by the International Astronomical Union in the IAU-Catalog of Star Names (IAU-CSN). Its origin is Akkadian. It is the name of the star 112 Psc (HIP 9353) in constellation Pisces.

Concordance, Etymology, History

see concordance of the original Babylonian constellations

• ^mulZIB^meš (𒀯𒍦𒈨), The Tails that occurs in Late Babylonian literature
• ^mulSIM.MAḪ (𒀯𒋆𒈤), The Swallow [bird], that occurs in Middle Babylonian literature and whose tails KUN^me(š) are reported in the "path of the moon"

Sumerian ^mulZIB^meš (𒀯𒍦𒈨), equalling Akkadian zibbātu, 'The Tails,' is a late Babylonian name for the zodiacal sign and constellation Pisces. The term is used exclusively in the Astronomical Diaries from Babylon for the section of the ecliptic. In this late time, traditional cuneiform names of constellations used to be abbreviated. The original name of the constellation in the Path of the Moon in MUL.APIN (I iv 36) is given:

^<mul>KUN^{meš mul}SIM.MAḪ, ^mulA-nu-ni-tu₄

Tails (of) Swallow, Anunitu

The term ^mulAnunītu is a byname of the goddess Inanna/ Ishtar. In the time of MUL.APIN (before 1000 BCE), the term "Tails of the Swallow" refers to an asterism within the constellation of SIM.MAḪ, The Swallow, whose body was imagined in modern Cetus.

In later time, as reconstructed from normal star lists, the constellation of "the Tails" (KUN or ZIB or zibbatu) was visualized as a fish-tail and bird-tail joined (Beaulieu et al. 2018: 44-45). Yet the origin is the earlier and much larger constellation of The Swallow ^mulSIM.MAḪ mentioned in MUL.APIN whose V-shaped tails match the V-shaped chains of stars in Pisces.  

The modern star name is placed next to the star Alrescha where the two ribbons of Pisces join, as if it was an alternative name for the knot in the band.

• 
  animated transformation from Babylonian to Greek constellations (SMH 2017)
• 
  "Swallow" in Middle Babylonian (MUL.APIN), map: Stellarium 2026, drawing: Robert Perdok (LWL Planetarium Münster, Germany) 2016, adoption: SMH for IAU-WGSN 2026
• 
  "Swallow" in "Swallow-Fish" in Late Babylonian (e.g. normal star lists described with ribbon), map: Stellarium 2026, drawing: Robert Perdok (LWL Planetarium Münster, Germany) 2016, adoption: SMH for IAU-WGSN 2026
• 
  Simmakh as modern star name (CC BY Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU WGSN)
• 
  Zibbatu as modern star name (CC BY Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU WGSN)

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name ZIB/ Zibbatu was suggested to the IAU WGSN in 2023. In the Babylonian Astronomical Diaries, the term ZIB was used, but IAU WGSN guidelines depreciate names with only three characters; recommended are at least four. The more characters, the smaller the chance for confusion with similar terms, abbreviations or other names. Therefore, the Akkadian equivalent of the term, "Zibbatu" was preferred by WGSN. In September 2026, the WGSN chose to adopt the name for the star 112 Psc (5.87 mag) in the IAU-CSN.

• 
  (CC BY Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU WGSN)
• 
  (CC BY Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU WGSN)

Reference

• References (general)
• Kurtik's references