Rana

"Rana Secunda" abbreviated in the original star catalog

Modern name for Delta Eridani = HR 1136; astrophysical importance: one of the first (rare) exemplars of “subgiants” recognized.

Etymology and History

Positions of "Rana" and "Ran" in the star map of Eridanus

The star was called "Rana Secunda" in Piazzi's Palermo Catalog (1814; Praecipuarum Stellarum Inerrantium Positiones Mediae Ineunte Saeculo XIX. Ex Observationibus Habitis In Specula Panormitana Ab anno 1792 ad annum 1813), however this appears to have been shortened to "Rana" in later works.

The name appears to have been misappropriated by Piazzi or his team:

• Rana Secunda <- “2nd frog” <- ضفدع الثاني aḍ-ḍifdaʿ aṯ-ṯānī – attributed to Beta Ceti “Diphda” (where 1st frog was Fomalhaut) (Hyde’s 1665 translation of Ulugh Beg, Leybourn 1694, Knobel 1895).
• Strangely it is obvious from Hyde’s translation of Ulugh Beg’s text that the Latinized Rana Secunda is referring to a star in the tail of Cetus.

Despite the misappropriation, the name propagated. Later references, all as “Rana” for del Eri:

1. (1) Kendall (1845) Uranography: Or, a Description of the Heavens
2. (2) Becvar (1964) Atlas of the Heavens - II: Catalogue 1950.0
3. (3) Rhoads (1971) A Reduced Star Catalog Containing 537 Named Stars
4. (4) Chartrand (1982) Skyguide: A Field Guide for Amateur Astronomers
5. (5) Hoffleit & Jaschek (1991) The Bright Star Catalogue (5th ed.)
6. (6) Bakich (1995) The Cambridge Guide to the Constellations
7. (7) Moore (2006) The Amateur Astronomer (12th ed.)
8. (8) Anderson & Francis (2012) XHIP: An Extended Hipparcos Compilation

IAU Star Name

Name is already in SIMBAD: https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=Rana and has a Wikipedia entry

Issue: Similar name “Ran” was adopted for another star in same constellation - Epsilon Eridani - through NameExoWorlds 2015 campaign (”Rana” was apparently a sufficiently rare name that committee did not notice similarity at the time). *Both* are nearby K stars within 10pc! Alternate option: We could use original “Rana Secunda” from Piazzi? (although most references over past century do seem to just have “Rana”)

WGSN discussed the name in 2022 and registered it in the IAU-Catalog of Star Names.