Arabic star names / Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse
يد الجوزاء
Betelgeuse comes from the Arabic يد الجوزاء (Yad al-Jawzāʾ), which means “the hand of al-Jawzāʾ”. It is the 10th-brightest star in the sky, in Orion.
- Brightness
- 0.45
- Colour
- orange
- Constellation
- Orion
- Best seen
- February evenings
- Right ascension
- 5h 55m
- Declination
- +7° 24′
The name
Al-Jawzāʾ was the ancient Arab figure seen in Orion. A Latin copyist misread the first letter, turning yad into 'bed' and giving us Betelgeuse. Arabic sky charts today call it the shoulder, Mankib al-Jawzāʾ.
Where you can see it
It rises everywhere north of 83°S. From Riyadh it climbs to 73° above the horizon. From London it climbs to 46° above the horizon. From Sydney it climbs to 49° above the horizon.
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