Lesath

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

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Lesath

Asterism Info
Native	اللسعة
Translation	The sting
Position (2000)
Right ascension	262.690988
Declination	-37.29581348
Area	0 sq. deg.
Stars
Bright stars	1
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	1
Stars brighter than 3.00m	0
Brightest star	Lesath (2.65m)
Taxonomy
category of asterism	IAU-Star Name
IAU- constellations	Sco

Lesath 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 85696 (υ Sco, HR 6508) in constellation Sco.

Etymology and History

The formation of this name begins with the Greek term "(foggy) conglomeration", used by Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos in describing several nebulous sky objects (in the present case, probably the open cluster M7). Ptolemy's term was translated by the sci-Arabs as al-latkha, "the Spot". This word in turn became transliterated and corrupted in Medieval Latin to alascha, which was used in astrological texts in connection with Scorpius' tail. In Renaissance times, the derivation of alascha was erroneously attributed to the Arabic word las'a, "sting, or bite (of a poisonous animal)", rather than to al-latkha. Subsequently the erroneous word, written as "Lesath," was applied as a star name to υ Sco (and in recent times, also to λ Sco).

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name was adopted by the IAU WGSN on 2016/08/21.

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.