Saturday 5 March 2022

Stars In Eridanus

Orbit Unlimited.

A star is named by a Greek letter and a constellation. Thus, Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in Centaurus whereas Epsilon Eridani is the fifth brightest star in Eridanus. But why does Joshua Coffin differentiate Epsilon Eridani from e Eridani? is e not Epsilon (E in Greek)? No. Apparently e is Eta (H in Greek). (They had stopped teaching Greek in the senior classes in school by the time I got there.)

A few years back, a Latin tutor gave us this transliteration:

iota, i;
delta, d;
epsilon, e;
alpha, a -
 
- idea.
 
An important word all the way from Greek through Latin into English.
 
Addendum: No, I got that wrong about Eta. See The Greek Alphabet. I don't know what Coffin was getting at.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I admit I know next to nothing about Greek. And I know that is a lack!

Ad astra! Sean