Almach

Authors: IAU-WGSN Etymology Group, Susanne M Hoffmann, Youla Azkarrula

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Almach

Asterism Info
Native	العناق
IPA	[al.mach]
Translation	the Caracal
Position (2000)
Right ascension	30.97480121
Declination	42.32972842
Area	0 sq. deg.
Stars
Bright stars	1
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	1
Stars brighter than 3.00m	0
Brightest star	Almach (2.1m)
Taxonomy
category of asterism	IAU-Star Name
IAU- constellations	And

Almach 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 9640 (γ And, HR 603) in constellation And.

Etymology and History

The formation of this name begins with the Arabic name for this star: ʿanaq al-ard, "the Caracal" (a black-eared feline predator found in the Middle East). The Arabs also gave the name in short form as al-ʿanaq, which became transliterated into Medieval Latin as alamac. In Renaissance times, the derivation of alamac was erroneously attributed to the assumed Arabic word al-maq (properly al-muq) for "the boot" or "buskin", rather than to al-ʿanaq. Subsequently the erroneous word, as "Almaak" and later "Almach" was applied as a star name to γ And, mostly in astronomical works in English. Other, non-English works use the spelling "Alamak" derived directly from the Medieval Latin transliteration.

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name was adopted by the IAU WGSN on 2016/07/20.

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.