Mebsuta

The IAU catalogue's account

From an abbreviation of the pre-Islamic Arabian asterism name dhira' al-asad almabsuta, "the Lion's Outstretched Paw," for one of the two pairs α/β Gem or α/β CMi. These pairs were assigned to the larger pre-Islamic Arabian asterism al-asad, but there is no unanimity in the Arabic sources as to which pair was the "outstretched" or "folded" paw. "Mebsuta" was arbitrarily applied as a star name to ε Gem in recent times. In its indigenous location stretching from parts of Gemini all the way into Virgo, the pre-Islamic Arabian al-asad, "the Lion," corresponded to what in other cultures was Leo among the zodiacal signs. Subsequently the Arabs used the indigenous name for the smaller Greek Lion (Leo).

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.