Alrescha

HR 596

9487

α Psc

2016/08/21

From the ind-A lunar mansion name al-risha', "the Cord," for β And. Wrongly transferred to α Psc in recent times. According to a sci-A source, the ind-A al-risha' included, in a larger sense, two curving lines of mostly dim stars in Andromeda and Pisces, meant to attach to the ind-A al-dalw "the Well Bucket" (marked by today's Square of Pegasus). It is also possible that this "cord" was a remnant of the cord joining the two fish of the older Babylonian zodiac. Indeed, these stars of the cord were alternatively known by the ind-Arabs as al-hut, "the Fish" (a single fish), corresponding to what in other cultures was Pisces among the zodiacal signs (and according to this tradition, the Fish's brightest star, β And, was batn al-hut, "the Fish's Belly").