Kaus Australis

The IAU catalogue's account

Arbitrarily applied in recent times, together with the Latin distinctions of "middle," "southern," and "northern" (for λ Sgr), from the pre-Islamic Arabian (and later Arabic) constellation name al-qaus, "the Bow." For the pre-Islamic Arabians, al-qaus was marked by the curved line of stars ξ2, o, π, d, ρ and u Sgr (corresponding to what in other cultures was Sagittarius among the zodiacal signs). The Arabics used the indigenous name for the Greeks' Archer, alternatively translated as al-rami.

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.