Alpheratz

English

Alternative forms

• Alpherat

Etymology

From Arabic سُرَّةُ الْفَرَس (surratu l-faras, “the horse's navel”) (referring to Pegasus), from سُرَّة (surra, “navel”) + فَرَس (faras, “horse, steed”).

Proper noun

Alpheratz

1. (astronomy) A spectroscopic binary, visible as a second-magnitude blue-white star marking the head of the chained woman in the northern constellation of Andromeda (formerly seen as part of Pegasus), one of four stars in the asterism of the Great Square of Pegasus.
   • 1821, Thomas Kerigan, The Young Navigator's Guide to the Sidereal and Planetary Parts of Nautical Astronomy: Being the Theory and Practice of Finding the Latitude, the Longitude, and the Variation of the Compass by the Fixed Stars and Planets. […], London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, page 67:

     In the head of Andromeda, there is a star of the second magnitude called Alpheratz and is one of those which form the square of Pegasus […]. Alpheratz is on an imaginary line drawn from the north-easternmost star in the square of the Great Bear, through the north polar star, and distant from the latter about 61 degrees.

   • 1899, Richard Hinckley Allen, Star-Names and Their Meanings, New York: G. E. Stechert, page 35:

     [Alpheratz, Alpherat, and Sirrah are from the Arabians' Al Surrat al Faras, the Horse's Navel, as this star formerly was associated with Pegasus, whence it was transferred to the Woman's hair; and some one has strangely called it Umbilicus Andromedae. But in all late Arabian astronomy taken from Ptolemy it was described as Al Rās al Mar'ah al Musalsalah, the Head of the Woman in Chains.]

Synonyms

• α (alpha) Andromedae (primary designation), α And (abbreviated form), Alpha Andromedae (Latinized form)
• δ (delta) Pegasi (historical designation), δ Peg (abbreviated form), Delta Pegasi (Latinized form)
• Sirrah

Holonyms

• Andromeda

References

• “Naming Stars”, in International Astronomical Union, 2018 June 1, List of IAU-approved Star Names.

Italian

Etymology

From Arabic سُرَّة اَلْفَرَس (surra(t) al-faras, “the horse's navel”) (referring to Pegasus), from سُرَّة (surra, “navel”) + فَرَس (faras, “horse, steed”).

Proper noun

Alpheratz f

1. (astronomy) Alpheratz (the brightest star in the constellation of Andromeda)