The Constellations

In this page:-

• Names of Constellations
• Arabic Constellation Names
• Short Note on Suwarul-Kawakib or Uranometry

• The areas of the above constellations adds up to 41,252.961 square degrees, which is in fact the area of the celestial sphere.
• In terms of area (based on the official IAU boundaries), of the 88 constellations the three largest are Hydra, Virgo, and Ursa Major, while the three smallest are Sagitta, Equuleus, and Crux.
• The references are:-
  1. The Observer's HandBook.
  2. The Astronomical Companion.

Constellation	Arabic Name	Arabic Name	Arabic Meaning	N/S	Picture
Andromeda		Al-Mara'ah Al-Musalsalah	The Shackled Woman	N	Click
Antlia		Mefraghat Al-Hawa'	The Air Pump	S	Click*
Apus		Tta'er Al-Ferdaws	Bird of Paradise	S	Click*
Aquarius		Ad-Dalw	The Well-bucket	S	Click
Aquila		Al-'Okab	The Eagle	N-S	Click
Ara		Al-Mijmarah	The Censer	S	Click
Aries		Al-Hamal	The Ram	N	Click
Auriga		Momsek Al-A'aennah	The Reins-holder	N	Click
Bootes		Al-'Awwa'	The Howler	N	Click
Caelum		Aalat An-Naqqash	The Sculptor's Tool	S	Click*
Camelopardalis		Az-Zarafah	The Giraffe	N	Click*
Cancer		As-Sarattan	The Crab	N	Click
Canes Venatici		As-Sloqeyyan	The Two Hunting Dogs	N	--
Canis Major		Al-Kalb Al-A'kbar	The Greater Dog	S	Click
Canis Minor		Al-Kalb Al-A'sghar	The Lesser Dog	N	Click*
Capricornus		Al-Jadi	The Young Goat	S	Click
Carina		Al-Qa'edah	The Keel	S	Click
Cassiopeia		That Al-Korsi	Who (Lady) Has Chair	N	Click
Centaurus		Qanttorus	Centaur	S	Click
Cepheus		Al-Multaheb	Inflammatus	N	Click
Cetus		Qayttas	Cetus	N-S	Click
Chamaeleon		Al-Hirba'	The Chameleon	S	--
Circinus		Al-Bikar	The Compasses	S	--
Columba		Al-Hamamah	The Dove	S	Click*
Coma Berenices		Al-Hulbah	Bristle	N	--
Corona Australis		Al-I'klil Al-Janobi	The Southern Crown	S	Click
Corona Borealis		Al-I'klil Ash-Shamali	The Northern Crown	N	Click
Corvus		Al-Ghurab	The Raven	S	Click
Crater		Al-Battiyah	The Great Cup	S	Click
Crux		As-Ssaleeb Al-Janobi	The Southern Cross	S	--
Cygnus		Ad-Dajajah	The Hen	N	Click
Delphinus		Ad-Dulfin	The Dolphin	N	Click
Dorado		Abu-Saif	The Swordfish	S	--
Draco		At-Tinneen	The Dragon	N	Click
Equuleus		Qett'at Al-Faras	Part of the Horse	N	Click
Eridanus		An-Nahr	The River	N-S	Click
Fornax		Al-Koor	The Furnace	S	Click*
Gemini		At-Tawa'man	The Twins	N	Click
Grus		Al-Kurki	The Crane (bird)	S	Click*
Hercules		Al-Jathi	The Kneeling (Man)	N	Click
Horologium		As-Sa'ah	The Clock	S	Click*
Hydra		Ash-Shuja'a	The Brave	N-S	Click
Hydrus		Hayyat Al-Ma'	The Water Snake	S	--
Indus		Al-Hindi	The Indian	S	--
Lacerta		Al-'Adha'ah	The Lizard	N	Click*
Leo		Al-A'sad	The Lion	N	Click
Leo Minor		Al-A'sad Al-A'sghar	The Lesser Lion	N	--
Lepus		Al-A'rnab	The Hare	S	Click*
Libra		Al-Mizan	The Balance	S	Click
Lupus		As-Sab'a	The Beast of Prey	S	Click
Lynx		Al-Washaq	The Lynx	N	Click*
Lyra		Al-Qitharah	The Lyre	N	Click*
Mensa		Al-Jabal	The Mountain	S	--
Microscopium		Al-Mijhar	The Microscope	S	Click*
Monoceros		Waheed Al-Qarn	The Unicorn	N-S	--
Musca		Ath-Thubabah	The Fly	S	--
Norma		Morabba'a An-Najjar	The Carpenter's Square	S	Click*
Octans		Ath-Thomon	The Octant	S	--
Ophiuchus		Al-Hawwa'	The Snake Charmer	N-S	Click
Orion		Al-Jabbar	The Giant	N-S	Click*
Pavo		Att-Ttawoos	The Peacock	S	Click*
Pegasus		Al-Faras Al-A'adham	The Great Horse	N	Click
Perseus		Hamil Ra's Al-Ghul	Bearer of the Demon's Head	N	Click
Phoenix		Al-'Anqa'	The Phoenix	S	--
Pictor		Aalat Ar-Rassam	The Painter's Tool	S	Click*
Pisces		Al-Hut	The Whale	N	Click
Piscis Austrinus		Al-Hut Al-Janubi	The Southern Whale	S	Click
Puppis		Al-Kawthal	The Stern	S	Click
Pyxis		Bayt Al-Ebrah	The Compass	S	Click
Reticulum		Ash-Shabakah	The Reticle	S	--
Sagitta		As-Sahm	The Arrow	N	Click
Sagittarius		Ar-Rami	The Archer	S	Click
Scorpius		Al-'Aqrab	The Scorpion	S	Click
Sculptor		M'amal An-Nahhat	The Sculptor's Mill	S	--
Scutum		At-Tirs	The Shield	S	--
Serpens		Al-Hayyah	The Snake	N-S	Click
Sextans		As-Sodos	The Sextant	N-S	Click*
Taurus		Ath-Thawr	The Bull	N	Click
Telescopium		Al-Merqab	The Telescope	S	Click*
Triangulum		Al-Muthallath	The Triangle	N	Click
Triangulum Australe		Al-Muthallath Al-Janobi	The Southern Triangle	S	--
Tucana		Att-Ttuqan	The Toucan	S	--
Ursa Major		Ad-Dubb Al-A'kbar	The Greater Bear	N	Click
Ursa Minor		Ad-Dubb Al-A'sghar	The Lesser Bear	N	Click
Vela		Ash-Shera'a	The Sail	S	Click
Virgo		Al-'Athra'	The Maiden	N-S	Click
Volans		As-Samakah Att-Tta'erah	The Flying Fish	S	--
Vulpecula		Ath-Th'alab	The Fox	N	Click*

• N/S: Indicates whether the constellation is a Northern or Southern one.
• The symbol * means that the picture of the constellation is taken from a reference other than Uranometry by Azophi (Suwarul-Kawakib by As-Sufi).
• Arabic References:-
  1. "Suwarul-Kawakib", by As-Sufi, (Uranometry, by Azophi).
  2. "Encyclopedia of Arab Star Names in Ancient and Modern Astronomy", by Dr. Abdul-Rahim Bader.
  3. "Astronomy", by Prof. Hamid Al-Naimy.

The first reference, which is Suwarul-Kawakib (Uranometry) is one of the greatest Arabic astronomical books, which was written by the great Muslim astronomer As-Sufi (Azophi) about 1000 years ago! All the above pictures of the constellations are taken from that book, unless otherwise mentioned. To know more about Suwarul-Kawakib and As-Sufi, kindly find below the introduction of the book.

The Suwaru'l-Kawakib or the Book of Fixed Stars was written for and dedicated to the Buwayhid ruler Azudu'd-Dawla, (949-982 A.D.) who was a great patron of Astronomy and had erected an observatory at Shiraz.

Older astronomers like al-Biruni, Alfonso X, Prince of Castile, Khwaja Nasiru'd-Din Tusi, Prince Ulugh Beg and Jai Singh II based their astronomical Tables for the cataloguing of Constellations on this authentic Catalogue of Stars, Modern scientists and experts like Pocock Steinschneider, Hauber, Dorn, Argelander, Ideler, Schjellerup and Knobel have utilized it extensively. Even Argelander in his monumental work concurs with as-Sufi in his observations, Prof. H.J.J. Winter has also rightly emphasized the importance of the Suwaru'l-Kawakib in the field of astronomy in his own observations.

As-Sufi is the first person to have observed and noticed change of the color of stars, the change in the magnitude of stars, the proper motions of stars, the long period variable stars, the Nebula Andromeda, the Nubecula Major and the Southern Constellations which have now been ascribed by modern astronomers to some later discoverers unknowingly. As-Sufi has not only corrected errors of observations in the work of his predecessors like al-Battani, but exposed many of the faulty observations found in the garbled versions of Ptolemy's Almagest, carefully defined the boundaries of each Constellation and recorded magnitudes and positions of stars by a fresh and independent observation of his own.

Thus Schjellerup, the translator of this work in French in his brilliant 'Introduction' has duly acknowledged the superiority of as-Sufi over the Medieval astronomers and shown the remarkable agreement found between the values of as-Sufi and that of Argelander in cases where Ptolemy's values are divergent. Even the observations of Ideler in his famous work agree mostly with as-Sufi's remarks.

A Critical Edition of this work collated with the oldest extant Mss. e.g. [Marsh 144] Bodleian Library Oxford, written by his son in 400 A.H. and based particularly on the Royal Codex prepared for and autographed by Ulugh Beg, the astronomer Prince himself, now preserved in the Bibliotheque. Nationale, Paris, [Arabe 5036] has for the first time been edited and published along with the Urjuza of Ibnus-Sufi by the Dairat'ul-Ma'arifi'l-Osmania, Hyderabad-Dn. Thus the text of this work is not only nearer to the author by 24 years, but approaches to the original copy of the author as some Mss. that have been utilized are said to have been copied from the author's autograph copies.

The original Arabic text covers 353 printed pages and contains 55 astronomical tables along with illustrations of 48 constellations in 96 diagrams as seen in the heavens and on the celestial globe reproduced in color on finest art paper from the unique Ulugh Beg Ms.

The artistic value of the illustrated Mss. of this work forms an interesting chapter in the history of Persian miniature painting. This has been demonstrated by experts like Blochet, Upton, Dimand and Holter in their studies and art albums profusely.

The Introduction contains a brief survey of the work from technical and artistic points of view and embodies a digest of researches done in these fields by experts and astronomers like Pocock, Knobel, Schjellerup, Hauber, Suter and H.JJ. Winter.