From the Museum
Arabic (Islamic) brass globe, 18th century
This globe from the early 18th century shows all 48 constellations that were known to the Ancient Greeks. The Arabic names of some of the stars are engraved on the globe. These names have meaning in Arabic. Western astronomers simply adopted these names rather than translating them.
For example, in Andromeda there are stars we now call Sirrah and Alpheratz. These come from the Arabic name 'Al Surrat al Faras'. This means the horse's navel, because the stars used to belong to the nearby constellation of Pegasus, the flying horse.
