Where did they come up with the name Alpha Centauri from.?

Question

It goes back away's.Probaly not found on the internet and it is misprinted.

Let me refraze and add the question: The idea of the name,where did they got it from.From where?

I'm not asking the definition or about it's Mythgology. I'm asking what manipulated them to call this star the name from what source did they recieved from .You came up with great answers ;that's not what I'm asking please do not misunderstand me.Thanks!

Answer 1

According to Wikipedia:

The system bears the proper name Rigil Kentaurus (often shortened to Rigil Kent), derived from the Arabic phrase Al Rijl al Kentaurus, meaning "foot of the centaur," but is most often referred to by its Bayer designation Alpha Centauri. An alternative name is Toliman, whose etymology may be Arabic (Al-Thalimain meaning "Ostriches"), or Hebrew (meaning "The Heretofore and the Hereafter" and/or "Shoot of the Vine"). (See Centaurus) Finally, it is sometimes called Bungula, possibly from the Latin ungula meaning "hoof".

In Chinese, Alpha Centauri is called Nánmén'èr (南門二) "Second [Star] of the Southern Gate". As mentioned, Alpha and Beta Centauri together form the "Pointers" to Crux, the Southern Cross.

Answer 2

Alpha is the first letter of the greek alphabet. So Alpha Centauri is simply the designation for the brightest star in the constellation of Centaurus. Thus there is an Alpha Orionis (aka Betelgeuse), an Alpha Lyrae (Vega), an Alpha Virginis (Spica) etc. It is simply a system for finding stars as most know roughly where the constellations are in the night sky (astronomers do atleast).

The second letter in the greek alphabet is beta. Beta Centauri is also known as Hadar although Alpha Centauri is actually a triple star system. It was not known until fairly recently, with the advent of the telescope, that Alpha Centauri had a companion. They were renamed Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. A third, dimmer component, Proxima Centauri, was discovered even later.

Centaurus is one of the ancient constellations and has therefore been known since ancient times. Who exactly named it and when cannot easily be determined. The centaur is a creature from ancient greek mythology and Alpha Centauri (A) is also known as Rigil Centaurus meaning "the foot of the centaur".

Answer 3

Alpha Centauri consists of three stars, a G2 main sequence star slightly more massive and older than the Sun, a K star, and a red dwarf at a considerable distance from the other two. The G star is much like the Sun, with about 78% hydrogen (why do you insist on spelling these out?), 20% helium, and 2 % "metals", which to an astronomer includes all elements except hydrogen and helium, The K star seems to have a bit more helium, and the red dwarf is still around 90% hydrogen. If you bothered to Google, you would find there is a website devoted just to Alpha Centauri. wikipedia has a nice entry also.

Answer 4

Centauri is the name of the Greek constellation they believed looked like a Centaur (a mythical creature half man, half horse.)
Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, the Greeks used successive letters to name each star in a constellation, hence Alpha Centauri is the first star in Centaurus, Beta Centauri is the second, Gamma Centauri the third and so on.

Answer 5

Most bright stars are named this way, a system which originated with Bayer in the 17th century. A Greek letter (in this case Alpha) and the genitive form of the constellation in which the star is found (Centaurus, genitive Centauri).

I don't understand "I'm asking what manipulated them to call this star the name from what source did they recieved from ." Nobody was "manipulated" and the name wasn't "received" from anybody. It's just standard scientific nomenclature.

Answer 6

The constellations were named by the ancients centuries ago, and they are then further designated by their brightness, with alpha being the brightest star in that constellation, beta the second brightest, and so on. Alpha Centauri is therefore the brightest star in the constellation Centaurus.

Answer 7

I think it means first century.