Al-Zubana

Not to be confused with Zubeneschamali.

Not to be confused with Zubenelgenubi.

Not to be confused with Zubenelhakrabi.

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann

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Image that shows the earliest map or drawing

Image that shows the cultural object (e.g. in archaeological museum)

Al-Zubana (... ), The claws of the scorpion, is an Arabic/ Arabian asterism and lunar station composed of the 2 stars: α2 Lib (Zubenelgenubi) and β Lib (Zubeneschamali).

<here comes a short explanation: what is the earliest known occurance, what does it mean in their culture, perhaps were it stems from if e.g. taken over from Babylonian roots...>

Provenance, Etymology, History

Variants (in spelling, in name)

• Al-Zubana
• Al-Zubena

Etymology

<our opnion>

Formerly, Kunitzsch (1961) mentioned ... (English translation)

Sources and Identification

Sources	Identification(s)
Ibn Qutayba (d. 276 H / 889)
orig. & transl.	identification (map) Khalid's most beautiful map with ASE-logo
Al-Ṣūfī (d. 376 H / 986)
...
Al-Marzūqī (d. 421 H / 1030)
...

Discussion

Image Variants, Transfer and Transformation

• Error creating thumbnail:
  ancient manuscript 1
• Error creating thumbnail:
  Laffitte's mapping
• Error creating thumbnail:
  something else ...

Verbal Discussion/ Conclusion

different opinions by modern scholars - e.g. Adams, Laffitte (2012, 2025), AlAjaji, Kunitzsch, Ideler ...

Deviating Identifications?

Header text	Adams	AlAjaji	Laffitte
Example	Example	Example	Example
Star Name	beta	alpha	gamma
Example	Example	Example	Example

.

IAU Working Group Star Names

In 2016 and 2017, WGSN adopted the commonly used variants of the Northern and Southern Claw to their Catalog of Star Names (CSN):

• α2 Lib (Zubenelgenubi)
• β Lib (Zubeneschamali)
• γ Lib (Zubenelhakrabi)

This star is <a red giant or whatelse> ... here astrophysical data will be added (by Eric, most likely) after the decision.