Nunki

This modern star name originates from the Sumerian term ^mulNUN^ki in which "mul" designates an object in the sky and "ki" indicates placenames. It is also called "Asterism of Eridu", the asterism of the southernmost city in ancient Mesopotamia. The modern star name is erroneously applied to the star σ Sgr (SIMBAD) because of an early misinterpretation of cuneiform texts in the 19th century.

Etymology and History

Allen (1899)

Richard Hinckley Allen in his popular book "Star Names - Their Lore and Meaning" was rather influencial in the 20th century. He wrote for σ Sgr:

"has been identified with Nunki of the Euphratean Tablet of the Thirty Stars, the Star of the Proclamation of the Sea, this Sea being the quarter occupied by Aquarius, Capricornus, Delphinus, Pisces, and Piscis Australis. It is the same space in the sky that Aratis designated as the Water; perhaps another proof of the Euphratean origin of much of Greek astronomy."

Neither does he give sources for this identification nor is this early interpretation still considered correct. Today, Assyriology identifies the Sumerian term with an asterism (star or constellation) in Vela. Even with the earliest reconstruction of the text of the Babylonian astronomy compendium MUL.APIN around 1920, scholars doubted on a position of NUN^ki in Sagittarius. Still, the knowledge of Assyriologists did not reach astronomers who kept using Allen's book.

^mulNUN^ki in modern scholarship

The dictionaries of Mesopotamian astral science by Gössmann (1959) and Kurtik (2007) offer various interpretations of the position of this name (cf ^mulNUN^ki). It likely referred to a constellation and not only to one star. In MUL.APIN it is associated with the god of wisdom and witchcraft, Ea, indicating that it is in the southmost area of the visible part of the sky in Mesopotamia. As Eridu is the southernmost city, its asterism might be considered one of the southernmost visible celestial objects. All identifications since the 1920s suggest stars or groups of stars in the constellation of Argo (Arg), e.g. Canopus or anything in the area of Vela, Carina or Puppis.

Hoffmann (2022) points out that the GU-text that dates around 500 BCE positions the NUN^ki-asterism in the area of Vela.

IAU Working Group Star Names

The name was approved by the IAU WGSN in 2017 for σ Sgr.

Reference

• References (general)
• References (early modern)
• Ian Ridpath's website (Argo, Argo_2)