Beta Andromedae

Properties

Nomenclature

• Beta Andromedae is the star's Bayer designation.
• It had the traditional name of Mirach, and its variations, such as Mirac, Mirar, Mirath, Mirak, etc., which come from the star's description in the Alfonsine Tables of 1521 as super mizar. Here, mirat is a corruption of the Arabic مئزر mīzar "girdle", which appeared in a Latin translation of the Almagest. This word refers to Mirach's position at the left hip of the princess Andromeda.
• In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included Mirach for this star.
• Medieval astronomers writing in Arabic called β Andromedae Janb al-Musalsalah ; it was part of the 28th manzil Baṭn al-Ḥūt, the Belly of the Fish, or Qalb al-Ḥūt, the Heart of the Fish. The star has also been called Cingulum and Ventrale. This al-Ḥūt was an indigenous Arabic constellation, not the Western "Northern Fish" part of the constellation Pisces. These names are not from the Arabic marāqq, loins, because it was never called al-Marāqq in Arabian astronomy. Al Rishā, the Cord, on al-Sūfī's star map. It is origin of the proper name Alrescha' for Alpha Piscium.
• In Chinese, 奎宿, meaning Legs , refers to an asterism consisting of β Andromedae, η Andromedae, 65 Piscium, ζ Andromedae, ε Andromedae, δ Andromedae, π Andromedae, ν Andromedae, μ Andromedae, σ Piscium, τ Piscium, 91 Piscium, υ Piscium, φ Piscium, χ Piscium and ψ¹ Piscium. Consequently, the Chinese name for β Andromedae itself is 奎宿九
• The people of Micronesia named this star Kyyw, meaning "The Porpoise", and this was used as one of the names of the months in Micronesia.
• Mirach is listed in MUL.APIN as KA.MUSH.I.KU.E, meaning "the Deleter".