Aspidiske

Map of Argo in Stellarium with the Little Shield marked and xi Pup highlighted.

Aspidiske is a modern star name adopted by the International Astronomical Union in the IAU-Catalog of Star Names (IAU-CSN). Its origin is Greek. It is the name of HIP45556 (ι Car, HR 3699) in constellation Carina because a star in the original asterism is named with the corrupted name variant Azmidi.

Etymology and History

Applied in recent times from the Greek word ἀσπιδίσκη, "little shield", used by Ptolemy in the Almagest in describing several stars in his constellation Argo, that were fixed to the ship for protection and decoration. Ptolemy's shields were in today's Puppis and Vela, but their identification was confused when Argo was divided into the modern Carina, Puppis, and Vela.

Almagest Star Catalogue for Argo

In the following excerpt of Ptolemy's star list in Argo shows that he describes three stars relative to a "little shield" (Aspidiske):

No.	Greek (Heiberg 1894)	English translation (Toomer 1984)	ident.
3	τών ύπὲρ τὴν έν τῇ πρύμνῃ ἀσπιδίσκηv β συνεχῶν ὁ βορειότερος	The northernmost of the 2 stars close together over the little shield in the poop	xi Pup
4	vοτιώτερος αὐτῶν	The southernmost of them	o Pup
5	ὁ τούτωv προηγούμεvος	The star in advance of these	m Pup (HR 2944)
6	ὁ έν μέσῃ τῇ ἀσπιδίσκῃ λαμπρός	The bright star in the middle of the little shield	k Pup (HR 2948 +29)
7	τῶν ὑπο την ἀσπιδίσκην γ ὁ προηγούμενος	The most advanced of the 3 stars under the little shield	p Pup (HR 2922)
8	ὁ ἐπόμεvος αὐτῶν	The rearmost of them	3 Pup
9	ὁ μέσος τῶν τριῶv	The middle one of the three	1 Pup

The shield is marked by the star k Pup (HIP 37229) while the stars ξ and o Pup frame the shield to the north, and p Pup, 3 Pup and 1 Pup frame it to the south.

Allen (1899, 74)

ι (iota), 2.9, pale yellow.

This was the Latins’ Scutulum, or Little Shield, the Arabians’ Turais, probably referring to the ornamental Aplustre at the stern of the Ship in the subdivision Carina; but Hyde, quoting it as Turyeish from Tizini, said that the original was verbum ignotum, and suggested that some one else should make a guess at it and its meaning. Smyth wrote of it as "corresponding to the ᾽Aσπιδίσκε of Ptolemy"; but the latter described it as being in the ᾽Aκροστόλιον, Gunwale, and located κ, ξ, o, π, ρ, σ, and τ in the ᾽Aσπιδίσκε, or Aplustre, where they are shown to-day. The Century Atlas follows Smyth in calling ι Aspidiske. It is visible from the latitude of New York City.

ξ (xi), 3.4, has been called Asmidiske by an incorrect transliteration of the ᾽Aσπιδίσκε where it is located with the star ι.

Mythology

The star or the shield do not have an individual mythology. The Ship Argo has a Greek mythology and possibly also roots in the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh Epic.

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name was adopted by the IAU WGSN on 2016/07/20.

Weblinks

• Website of the IAU WGSN: https://exopla.net/

Reference

• References (general)
• 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.