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    Re: How do you memorise the stars' names?
    From: Frank Reed
    Date: 2017 Feb 27, 14:53 -0800

    Yes, "Coeur du Scorpion" or "Cor Scorpii" or the Arabic version, which apparently has the same meaning, "Qalb al-aqrab" were other names for Antares. Many standard names for bright stars have become popular only within the past hundred years, and none were "official" until a little over a year ago when the IAU decided to extend its powers to the task of star naming.

    One of note: the star we call Altair today was known only as alpha Aquilae when the first Nautical Almanacs were published.

    Here's the latest list of offiial IAU names (now totalling 240 and including a few added at the beginning of this month):
    http://www.pas.rochester.edu/~emamajek/WGSN/IAU-CSN.txt.

    I am happy to report that there are now stars officially named Sham and Skat . While checking to see if this star called Skat might be near Uranus (sadly for scatological humor, no), I found that Uranus is less than a degree from Mars tonight. If you have clear skies and a small telescope, this is a great opportunity to find the "planet formerly known as George".

    Frank Reed

       
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