Stellarium / stellarium

Stellarium is a free GPL software which renders realistic skies in real time with OpenGL. It is available for Linux/Unix, Windows and macOS. With Stellarium, you really see what you can see with your eyes, binoculars or a small telescope.
https://stellarium.org
GNU General Public License v2.0
7.73k stars 820 forks source link

Some skyCultures star names include non-native names. #3876

Open 3domennotry opened 2 months ago

3domennotry commented 2 months ago

star_names.fab has 2 pattern.

One of them is the star name by native name. One of them is the explain of star name by English.

However, These skycultures "star_names.fab" include non-native names.

hawaiian_starlines: Mirzim, Bellatrix, Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka khoi-san: all star names zulu: all star names romanian: many, almost egyptian: Procyon, Sirius

I think that all skycultures are ancient except for modern_XXXX.

Therefore, I think that non-native name were not used in these ancient skycultures (zulu, khoi-san, hawaiian_starlines).

Perhaps, Many non-native name (At least Acrux, Peacock) were not used in ancient romanian skycultures.

https://archive.hokulea.com/ike/hookele/hawaiian_star_lines.html This website, native name is yellow, non-native name is blue.

skycultures/egyptian/star_names.fab include Procyon and Sirius. Maybe, the names of these stars were used in ancient Egypt.

System

(Sorry, I can not speak English very well.)

thank you.

gzotti commented 2 months ago

Yes. We are in preparation of a big change in our skycultures, so please let us keep this as-is for now.

What you see now has grown over more than twenty years. Contributions of mixed quality, people doing their best, providing better than nothing, but sometimes inaccuracies appear. Until 2017 or so we had no clear rules what to expect in the content. After that (with the User Guide) we tried to receive better quality contributions. Some SC authors have not provided proper star names, in this case the default star list was used (Maybe you then see an older version!), and it is clear in context that names collected in Europe are not original Zulu. In other cases, some modern star names are likely used for reference (so that users still can orient themselves!) If we had a job description like "institute for cultural astronomy" with 3-5 full-time positions, we could work faster. In any case, we depend on high-quality external contributions here.

3domennotry commented 2 months ago

I look forward to it.

This is my personal opinion.

I think that skycultures/anutan/star_names.fab is best. This file contains both the native name and the description. When I select α CMa, it shows: "Te Tino A Manu (The Bird's Body)". This file not contains modern star names. No problem. Because, We know that α CMa is Sirius.

And, I think that skycultures/(each folders)/description.en.utf8 should not contain modern star names. Of course I know Sirius, Procyon, Betelgeuse and several major star names. But, I do not know almost minor star names.

I reported following: https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium/issues/3845 https://github.com/Stellarium/stellarium/issues/3854

Caph, Shedar and Navi, The names of these stars are not well known in Japan. (I am Japanese.)

If I find a misspelling of a star name that I know of, I can report it or correct it. But, I find a misspelling of a star name that I do not know of, I can not report it or correct it.

Please look at: skycultures/hawaiian_starlines/description.en.utf8 .

Descriptions include the names of stars such as Capella, Castor, Pollux, Procyon and Sirius. No problem. I know these star names.

Descriptions include the names of stars such as "α Peg, Markab", "β Peg, Scheat", and "γ Peg, Algenib". No problem. I do not know these star names. But I can identify it by the Bayer letters.

Descriptions include the names of stars such as "Mintaka" and "Mirzim". I'm in trouble. I can not identify. Fortunately, I can see the external link: https://archive.hokulea.com/ike/hookele/hawaiian_star_lines.html According to this website, Mintaka is δ Ori. Perhaps, Not Mirzim But Murzim. Perhaps, Murzim is β CMa.

thank you.