Gomeisa

The IAU catalogue's account

From the pre-Islamic Arabian surname al-ghumaisa', "the Little Bleary-eyed One ('with a filthy fluid in the corner of the eye')," for α CMi. Wrongly transferred to β CMi in recent times. The original significance of the surname is unknown. Perhaps as an attempt to explain the significance of al-ghumaisa', as well as that of the surname al-<abur, "the One Having Crossed Over [a river, etc.]," for α CMa, an Arabic fable developed associating these and other equally enigmatic star names. According to one version of the fable, al-ghumaisa and ai-'abur were sisters, and their brother was suhail (α Car). Suhail, in turn, was the suitor of al-jauza' (the feminine pre-Islamic Arabian figure in place of Orion). In coitus, suhail broke the spine of al-jauza', thus killing her, after which suhail fled south. He was followed by his sister al-'abur who "crossed over" the Milky Way (where the two stars now lie in the southern sky). Meanwhile suhail's second sister, al-ghumaisa, was left alone north of the Milky Way, weeping, until her "eyes became bleary." (The pre-Islamic Arabian name for α CMa was al-shi'ra, of unknown meaning. Apparently it was developed into a dualis form, al-shi'rayan, to accomodate both α CMa and α CMi, with the aforementioned "surnames" distinguishing the two.)

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.