Regulus

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

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Regulus

Asterism Info
Native	βασιλίσκος
Translation	the (little) King or the Kingly One
Position (2000)
Right ascension	152.0929624
Declination	11.96720878
Area	0 sq. deg.
Stars
Bright stars	1
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	1
Stars brighter than 3.00m	0
Brightest star	Regulus (1.4m)
Taxonomy
category of asterism	IAU-Star Name
IAU- constellations	Leo

Regulus is a modern star name adopted by the International Astronomical Union in the IAU-Catalog of Star Names (IAU-CSN). Its origin is Latin. It is the name of HIP 49669 (α Leo, HR 3982) in constellation Leo.

Etymology and History

The name is a Latin translation of the ancient Greek name for this star: βασιλίσκος, "the (little) King" or "the Kingly One", which is a translation of the Sumerian name of the star: LUGAL (The King). The Romans, following the Greeks, called the star stella regia, "the Royal Star". Later, the Medieval Latin Almagest, translating from the Arabic (where in one version the original Greek diminutive had been lost), had rex, "the King". The form "Regulus" (again, the [little] King") first appears in 1522, obviously formed by some Renaissance scholar after the Greek diminutive name.

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name was adopted by the IAU WGSN on 2016/06/30.

Weblinks

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

Reference

• References (general)
• MUL.APIN I i 9 (Hunger and Steele 2019). 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.
• Ian Ridpath Star Tales Leo