Kenemu

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann, Eric Mamajek, ASE Tech Team

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Boat and Decans in tomb of Karakhamun  (CC BY Elena Pischikova and Miguel A. Molinero, in Lull 2018).

Kenemu

Asterism Info
Native	Knmw
Translation	crew
Position (2000)
Right ascension	290.4181661
Declination	-17.84719859
Area	0 sq. deg.
Stars
Bright stars	1
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	1
Stars brighter than 3.00m	0
Brightest star	Kenemu (3.93m)
Taxonomy
category of asterism	IAU-Star Name
IAU- constellations	Sgr

Kenemu (knmw), Crew, is an Egyptian constellation of three stars ρ¹ Sgr = 44 Sgr. (Stars of) Kenmu, 17th decan in Egyptian astral science, has its heliacal rise in month Peret, represented by a small group of stars around ρ¹ Sgr.

Concordance, Etymology, History

The Boat and its Crew, Wja and Kenemu, in the Book of Nut (Lull 2018)

Origin of Constellation

Decans of Wja+Knmw in the astronomical ceiling of Esna (Lull 2018).

Kenemu is the name of a decan (possibly form by several stars as its name indicate, the Crew) of the constellation Wia, The Boat, which is formed by several stars expanding from before the Red of the Prow (Antares) to the end of Sagittarius. It is sailing the Milky Way.  

identifications of Decans in Lull (2018)

Lull (2018) dedicates an entire research paper to the discussion, cultural embedding and astronomical identification of Wia, The Boat, with Knmw, The Crew. He concludes on the identification of Knmw with the area between the stars ρ¹ Sgr (44 Sgr).

Previous Identification: Leitz (1995, 91) reads knm and translates The Dark One, which he interprets as a reference to fainter stars. His identification with λ Aql is refuted by Belmonte and Lull (2023), who also adopt another reading of the original hieroglyphs.

Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation

Constellations Wia + Kenmu on Nectanebo's sarcophagus (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, ÄM 7.)

Religion/ Tales/ Mythology

In ancient Egyptian cosmology, boats carried the sun god Ra, and the deceased pharaoh's soul on its journey through the afterlife. The WjA constellation symbolized these vital spiritual and solar voyages.

Therefore constellation is also engraved on the granite sarcophagus lid of Djehapimu, the Royal Audit Officer and a relative of King Nectanebo II (Nakhthorheb, Nḫt-Ḥr-Ḥbt), c. 346-332 BCE, granite, displayed in the exhibition of the Neues Museum Berlin, Germany.  

IAU WGSN star name discussion

The name was proposed to WGSN in 2025. As Kenemu means something as "crew", we are not sure if it would be appropriate for a single star. Juan Belmonte suggests to look for any pair of closing stars or a star which is multiple (not to the naked eye) in the area east of Kaus Australis, as in that case, it may suit. Yet, Belmonte and Lull (2023) and Lull (2018) both identify ρ¹ Sgr at 3.93 mag in V.

In 2026, the name "Kenemu" was proposed for the star ρ1 Sgr (Rho1 Sagittarii, 44 Sgr, HR 7340, HD 181577, HIP 95168), a spectral type A9IV star with apparent magnitude V=3.92 that lies 40 parsecs away. The star is a Delta Scuti variable star that varies at the ~0.04 magnitude level on a timescale of ~1.2 hours. The star has a mass approximately 1.9x that of the Sun, and a luminosity of approximately 31x the Sun, placing it about ~1.5 magnitudes brighter than the main sequence, and making it a post-main sequence star.

• 
  Heryibwia profile card (CC BY M.Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU-WGSN).
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  Heryibwia stick figure (CC BY M.Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU-WGSN).
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  Babylonian "River Boat" constellation: see Magur.
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  Kenemu profile card (CC BY M.Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU-WGSN).
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  Kenemu stick figure (CC BY M.Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU-WGSN).
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  Qedty profile card (CC BY M.Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU-WGSN).
• 
  Qedty stick figure (CC BY M.Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU-WGSN).

Weblinks

• https://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=rho01+Sgr

References

• References (general)