A Medieval Reference to the Andromeda Nebula P
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A Medieval Reference to the Andromeda Nebula P. KUNITZSCH, Institute of Semitic Studies, University of Munich, F. R. Germany 1 Nebulous objects among the fixed star er Ori, or the two stars ep" 2 Ori). In number of nebulous objects played a stars, in the southern as weil as in the addition, he also calls the 17th star of role. They were named for causing dis northern hemisphere, have been ob Cygnus (W,,2 Cyg, again a pair of stars) eases of the eyes, or blindness. This served and registered since antiquity. "nebulous", but without including it in tradition, again, originated with Ptolemy, They are mentioned in both parts of the the number of the five "nebulous" stars in his astrological handbook Tetrabib ancient knowledge of the sky, the proper. Further, under the 6th extern al Ios, book iii, chapter 12 (the Tetrabiblos theoretical (that is what we nowadays star of Leo, he mentions the "nebulous was also translated into Arabic, and la would call "astronomy"), and the ap complex" between the hind parts of ter, in Spain, into Latin). Here, six ob plied, er practical (that is what we nowa Ursa Maior and Leo which refers to the jects among the zodiacal constellations days call "astrology"). region of Coma Berenices, but without are listed: the Pleiades in Taurus; M 44 The great master of astronomy in late entering an object from this complex in Cancer; the region of Coma Be antiquity, Claudius Ptolemaeus of Alex into the star catalogue. These data were renices, near Leo; M 7 in Scorpius; the andria (2nd century A. D.), whose teach repeated by all the astronomers down to arrow point of Sagittarius (perhaps v1,2 ings remained authoritative through the Copernicus' time, both in the Islamic Sgr, mentioned above, but here placed Middle Ages and down to the times of Orient (where the Almagest had been on the arrow while in the Almagest it Copernicus, has registered in his star translated into Arabic, and revised, sev was located on the eye of Sagittarius); catalogue (in books vii-viii of his eral times) and in medieval Europe and the pitcher of Aquarius (not men Mathematike Syntaxis, called the AI (where the Almagest was generally used tioned in the Almagest).2 Apart from magest in Europe since the Middle in a Latin translation made from the successive authors of late antiquity, this Ages) five stars as "nebulous" Arabic, in Spain, in the 12th century),' tradition was also set forth in the Islamic (nepheloeides): the 1st star of Perseus It is remarkable that some of the most Orient, e. g. by Abu Ma'shar in his Intro (X h Per, M 34 = NGC 1039); the 1st star conspicuous nebulae were not regis ductorium Maius, book vi, chapter 20, of Cancer (Praesepe, M 44 = NGC 2632, tered, or called "nebulous", by Ptolemy, and by al-Biruni in his Kitab al-tafhim 3 with E Cnc at its centre); the 1st external such as the Andromeda Nebula, or the (Elements of Astrology), § 460. star of Scorpius (most probably M 7 = globular cluster w Cen (here, Ptolemy The most famous author in the Islamic NGC 6475); the 8th star of Sagittarius has registered the object as the 21 st Orient on the fixed stars was Abu (v',2 Sgr, a pair of stars standing close star of Centaurus, with magnitude 5, not I-Husain al-Sufi (A. D. 903-986). He together); and the 1st star of Grion (A mentioning its character as "nebulous"). composed a Book on the Constellations Ori, perhaps including the neighbouring Also in the astrological tradition a ofthe Fixed Stars (ca. A. 0.964) in which Figure 1: Drawing of the conste/lation of Andromeda with the big Figure 2: The same drawing, from a manuscript of the Sufi Latinus Arabic Fish over the upper part of her body; from a manuscript of al tradition. The dots marking the "nebulous spot" are visible to the right Sufi's Book on the Constellations of the Fixed Stars. On the mouth of of the big Fish's mouth. the big Fish, several dots mark the "nebulous spot", i. e. the Andromeda Nebula. 42 he described in detail the classical 48 constellations that had been established by Ptolemy in the Almagest. 4 For each ESO Pictorial Atlas Now Available constellation he gave a detailed discus sion of the individual stars; a list of indi Just in time for ESO's 25th anniversary, the English, German and Danish genous Arabic star names of objects versions of this beautiful atlas have now been published. French, Italian and falling under the Greek constellation, to Spanish versions are expected to follow in 1988.90 colour plates and 147 black gether with a precise identification of and-white photographs of outstanding quality, accompanied by extensive cap each object with the respective tions, reference maps, complete plate data and indexes, introduce the reader to Ptolemaic stars; two drawings of the the southern sky. Many of the photographs are here published for the first time. constellation, one as seen in the sky, Of special interest are photographs of Supernova 1987 A and of Halley's Comet. and one as seen on the celestial globe The English version, titled "Exploring the Southern Sky", is available at (where the left and right sides, and East Springer-Verlag New York, P. O. Box 2485, Secaucus, New Jersey 07094, USA West, are always reversed); and a (US $ 39,-). catalogue of the stars belonging to that The German version, with the title "Entdeckungen am Südhimmel", may be constellation. Here, under the constella obtained from Birkhäuser-Verlag, Postfach 113, CH-4010 Basel/Switzerland tion of Andromeda, in the description of (DM 98,- until 31.12.1987, thereafter DM 128,-). the indigenous Arabic names, he occa The publisher of the Danish version, "Sydhimlens Stjerner", is Rhodos, Strand sionally mentions the Andromeda Nebu gade 36, DK-1401 Copenhagen K, Denmark (DKr. 325,-). la. In describing the figure of a big The book can of course also be ordered from your local bookshop. Arabic "Fish" Iying across the figure of Ptolemy's Andromeda,s he says that this "Fish" is made up by two lines of spot" (i.e., the Andromeda Nebula), in English translation (from the original stars beginning from the "nebulous front of the big Fish's mouth, in the Greek) is: Ptolemy's Almagest, Translated spot" (Iatkha sahabiya) which is close to drawing of Andromeda with the big Fish and Annotated by G.J. Toomer (London, 1984). the 14th star of the constellation (v And, (for a specimen, see Fig. 2). 2. Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, ed. and transl. F. E. on the right side of the figure, being one It is interesting to see how carefully Robbins (The Loeb Classical Library, repr. of the three stars ß!J.v And on the girdle, the Western copyists and draughtsmen Cambridge, Mass.lLondon, 1971), or loin cloth, of Andromeda).6 have reproduced those dots beside the p.320-321. This is an occasional reference, in al figure of Andromeda although they 3. See P. Kunitzsch, apud W. Hübner, Die Sufi's book, to the Andromeda Nebula. could not understand what they meant Eigenschaften der Tierkreiszeichen in der The author does not give more details because al-Sufi's descriptive text itself Antike (Sudhoffs Archiv, Beiheft 22; Wies about this object which did not form part had not been translated into Latin. baden, 1982), p. 358f. of the material transmitted in Ptolemy's 4. P. Kunitzsch, article "al-Sufi", in: Dictio nary of Scientific Biography, vol. xiii (New star catalogue; but it is evident that al York, 1976); idem, "The astronomer Abu Sufi had observed the Nebula, and he References I-Husayn al-Sufi and his Book on the Con used it, in context, as a point of refer 1. For the Almagest, see P. Kunitzsch, Der stellations", Zeitschr. f. Geschichte d. ence in the description of the position of Almagest. Die Syntaxis Mathematica des Arab.-Islam. Wissenschaften 3 (1986), an old indigenous Arabic asterism. Claudius Ptolemäus in arabisch 56-81. The drawing of Andromeda with the lateinischer Überlieferung (Wiesbaden, 5. See P. Kunitzsch, Untersuchungen zur big Fish, added to the description of the 1974); Claudius Ptolemäus, Der Sternka Sternnomenklatur der Araber (Wiesbaden, Constellation, carefully indicates the talog des Almagest. Die arabisch-mittelal 1961), no. 126a. "nebulous spot" mentioned in al-Sufi's terliche Tradition, i: Die arabischen 6. H. C. F. C. Schjellerup, Description des etoiles fixes... par Abd-al-Rahman al descriptive text: it is marked by some Übersetzungen, Herausgeg., ins Deutsche übertragen u. bearb. v. P. Sufi (St.-petersbourg, 1874; repr. Frank dots on the mouth of the big Fish (see Kunitzsch (Wiesbaden, 1986). Arecent furt/M., 1986), p. 118-119. Fig. 1). In other manuscripts, in addition, the word sahabi ("nebulous") is written beside the dots on the Fish's mouth. In the 13th century, there originated, perhaps in Sicily, a Western branch of the Sufi tradition, the so-called Sufi ALGUNOS RESUMENES Latinus corpus, of which eight manu scripts have been found until now. 4 It Sengt Strömgren (1908-1987) consisted, basically, of Ptolemy's star catalogue in the Latin version made in Bengt Strömgren, ex presidente dei Con prints apareci6 tan solo pocos dias antes de Spain, in the 12th century, by Gerard of sejo de ESO (1975-1977) falleci6 el 4 de julio su deceso. Bengt, hijo de Elis Strömgren, Cremona (from the Arabic); but in the luego de una corta enfermedad. Su presiden Director dei Observatorio de Copenhagen, star coordinates the longitudes were cia occurri6 en un momento particularmente obtuvo su doctorado en 1929, fue profesor converted to al-Sufi's value (= Ptolemy dificil en la historia de la ESO.