Alrescha

The IAU catalogue's account

From the pre-Islamic Arabian lunar mansion name al-risha', "the Cord," for β And. Wrongly transferred to α Psc in recent times. According to a Arabic source, the pre-Islamic Arabian al-risha' included, in a larger sense, two curving lines of mostly dim stars in Andromeda and Pisces, meant to attach to the pre-Islamic Arabian al-dalw "the Well Bucket" (marked by today's Square of Pegasus). It is also possible that this "cord" was a remnant of the cord joining the two fish of the older Babylonian zodiac. Indeed, these stars of the cord were alternatively known by the pre-Islamic Arabians as al-hut, "the Fish" (a single fish), corresponding to what in other cultures was Pisces among the zodiacal signs (and according to this tradition, the Fish's brightest star, β And, was batn al-hut, "the Fish's Belly").

Source language

Arabic

Reference

Kunitzsch, Paul; Smart, Tim (2006). A Dictionary of Modern star Names: A Short Guide to 254 Star Names and Their Derivations (2nd rev. ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Sky Pub.

Source: IAU Catalog of Star Names (IAU-CSN), Working Group on Star Names. The account is the IAU's own text and is quoted in full: it is published under CC BY.