Pronunciations Of Astronomy Terms

[Wedge]

Hi All,

I am not sure if it is just me who wll need help here or if this will prove to be a really useful thread, but I sometimes find it difficult to work out how to pronounce quite a few terms to do with astronomy, as they are usually not from English and I am the only person in my household who knows about these things, so I rearely here them being pronounced outside of my head.

I was wondering if people were to post the word that they need to know on here and if a more informed member could help them pronounce it...

For example if I wanted to pronounce 'Galaxy' someone else would reply with

GAL-AX-EE

Or something like that

The first few words that I need to know (and there are probably millions more that I can't think of) are:

Maksutov-Cassegrain

Schmidt-Cassegrain

Perseids

Many Thanks

P.S sorry if anybody thinks that thi is a stupid topic.

[centroid]

The first few words that I need to know (and there are probably millions more that I can't think of) are:

Maksutov-Cassegrain

Schmidt-Cassegrain

Perseids

Well for me they are:

Mak-suit-ov Cass-eegrain, or if you only pronounce 'suit' the posh way, then Mak-sooot-ov Cass-eegrain

Schmitt- cass-eegrain

Percy-ids

BTW, not at all a stupid question.

Dave

[Wedge]

Thank You Very Much

I will certainly be needing to ask some more at later times, and I hope that others can benefit from this.

Remy

[James]

Pecry-ids

Dave

Did you mean Percy-ids?

[centroid]

Did you mean Percy-ids?

Sure did James, must learn to run the 'spell checker', to sort out my poor typing!!

Mistake now duly corrected.

Dave

[The Warthog]

Not a stupid topic at all. There is no standard of pronunciation for most star and constellation names, but there is a way most people say them. For Perseids, I have heard 'Persids' and 'Per-say-ids.' For most of the names you can just pronounce them as they are spelled. I refuse to call 'Betelgeuse' 'beetle-juice' as a lot of people do, and usually call it 'Bettle-goose.' This is partly because it's an Arab word, and Arabic doesn't have a long 'e'. I've heard 'Rigel' with both a soft and a hard 'g'. 'Vega' I've heard as 'VEE-ga' and 'VAY-ga.' Names like 'Mintaka' are pretty obvious, and I would pronounce 'Alkaid' as 'Al-kay-id.' but I wouldn't laugh at you if you pronounced it 'Alkayed.'

[Wedge]

Thanks for that, I hope that some of my pronouciations are correct...

How do you pronouce 'Gliese' as in Gliese 581 C

I think it was pronounced GLEEZ-AH in the Sky At Night about Exo-Planets but i may be mistaken...

I would have pronounced it GLEE-ESS-AH

Remy

[Andrew*]

great topic. Never thought to start one, although I'm often wondering.

It's Beetle juice for me I'm afraid. I liked it in Sky at Night (1961 episode!!) why SPM pronounced it (in his very proper accent) "BAY-tel-zhuhz".

I had trouble with "Losmandy" until I heard Jamie say it: "LOZ-mn-dee"

As WH says, many stars and constelations can be pronounced in many different ways: "CASS-ee-oh-pee-ah", "cass-ee-OH-pee-ah" "cass-ee-oh-PAY-ah" etc.

I hope to repeatedly return to this thread to question some pronunciations...

Andrew

[Wedge]

Thanks for saying it is good

I am glad that others will get a lot out of it!

[Astroman]

Here's the one I use.... I think....

http://astronomy.sierracollege.edu/Resources/Reference/astroProGuide.htm

[Wedge]

Brilliant!

Many Thanks

[The Warthog]

I would take issue with most of those pronunciations, having learned Latin in school. I have a bit of a mixture of modern and ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation, but all those 'ae' endings are pronounced 'eye' not 'ay.' I would pronounce 'caelum' as 'ch eye lum' with the 'ch' actually halfway between 'ch' and 'sh.' I would pronounce 'Cygni' etc. as 'Sig-knee' not 'Sig-nigh' as this pronunciation guide wants you to.

Probably made up by someone who pronounces Iraq as 'EYE-rag.'

[daz]

The bit I find amazing is that someone understood Jamie!!!

And a useful thread Wedge!

[mikkey99]

Just want to point out that Astromans link is to an American sight with obviously american pronunciations

not that i am decrying the american accent

each to their own i say

after all i come from Derbyshire (Dar-bi-shire) not far from a villiage called Calow (Kay-ler)

So i`m in no position to knock anyone

just wanted to point out that one persons correct pronunciation is anothers wrong one

mike

[Astroman]

just wanted to point out that one persons correct pronunciation is anothers wrong one

mike

Which brings us full circle back to WH's original response-there IS no definitive guide. If someone calls you on a pronunciation mistake, just nod and act as if THEY don't know what they're talking about. Practice makes perfect.

[beamish]

I'm with Warthog, it's Gemin-i for instance not gemin eye !

[GazOC]

Lets not get started on beta Orionis.....

[richmace]

Uranus is the most unfortunate one, of course. Coming from the Bristol area, there is only one way that I can pronounce that, and it's not the american (non-humourous) version

[saturn5]

Coming from "och aye the noo" land we would say yeranis usually preceeded by up

Well done Wedge,this could be a big thread,informative and funny

[richmace]

[Wedge]

Uranus is the most unfortunate one, of course.

Of Course!

The ammount of times I was told off at school for asking "How big is Uranus Sir?"

I would probably actually pronounce it YOU-RAN-US said quickly...

[Kain]

Uranus as always be You rAnus - Was yaught that at school, never really found it amusing, even if its a polite word for backside hole...

Arcturus has always been a pain for me, I pronouce it Arch-turus, not idea if thats correct.

Ophiuchus - Offy-ucus like mucus without the M.

Booties - Like baby shoes, I know Chris Linnot says Boo er ties which is probably correct.

of cause the best are

Zubenelgenubi, Zubeneschamali and Zubenelakrab all in Libra, no idea how you pronounce them, but funny non the lest.

Reminds me of a south african friend of my mothers boyfriend called Inzabadingii! (In Zaba Dingey)

Kain

[The Warthog]

I'm with Warthog, it's Gemin-i for instance not gemin eye !

That one trips me up. I do say Gemin-eye, and Oph-eye-uchus, even though I know better!

[Astroman]

I've said it before, but they ARE considering changing the name of Uranus because of all the jokes. New name will be

Urectum.

Yeah, that ought to fix things...

[geoff_k]

I've said it before, but they ARE considering changing the name of Uranus because of all the jokes. New name will be

Urectum.

Yeah, that ought to fix things...

Thought that was Futurama.

As far as names for stars go, I always rather like Wasat in Gemini. I know it means 'middle' in Arabic, but I like to think that somebody pointed at it for the first time and asked "wasat"? and the name stuck.

Geoff