Aldebaran, Riegel, Arktur, the Chapel, Protsion, Altair – these and hundreds of other poetic names it is possible to find in lists of traditional Greek, Arab and Chinese traditional names of stars. The modern astronomy has more difficult and with the systems of designation opened by the person shone.
By the most approximate calculations in the Universe there are more than hundred billion galaxies. It is obviously possible to count total number of the stars which are contained in them hardly. Even to modern astronomers to be guided in infinite number of stars rather difficult therefore the uniform convenient and universal system of designations of heavenly objects is not created to this day.
It was rather simple to antique researchers to appropriate to the star opened by them the poetic name – Altair, the Aldebaran, Vega, etc. Today professionals use several hundreds of various systems of designations, thus that only one percent of the existing stars is entered in catalogs. The most known of such systems – Bayer's Designations (Greek letters) and the Designations Flemstida (number).
The brightest stars like Sirius or Vega in the past were navigation – on them travelers were guided in space
To fans of astronomy to go into such subtleties to anything: it is enough to understand names of types of stars and to remember the most significant of them.
Dwarfs and giants
Dwarfs – the most widespread type of stars in our Galaxy to which 90 percent of stars, including the Sun belong. You should not take definition "dwarfish" too literally – it indicates not the size, and low degree of luminosity. One of the brightest stars in the Solar system, Proxima of a Centaur – the red dwarf. Giants call stars of the greatest luminosity with a radius from 10 to 100 solar radiuses. A characteristic example – Pollux, the blue giant from the constellation of Twins. Dwarfs and giants can be red, orange, yellow, white, blue, brown and black.
Variables
Variable in astronomy call stars which at least once for the entire period of their observation changed the gloss. By the present moment more than 28,000 such stars are opened. The most known – Mira and Algol. About forty can be visible with the naked eye.
On a legend the name Algol (Arab. "the star of a devil") received because of the variability
Supernew
Supernew call a specific class of stars, flashing with an improbable force, such that their shine surpasses galaxy brightness. It should be noted that flash not been born, but already some time the existing stars. The name "Supernova" was given for the reason that exactly thanks to flashes they become noticeable. The most famous representative of this category – supernew Kepler, opened in 1601.