Topic: Does our sun have a "star" name?

Hi, all.  I stumbled onto this website yesterday, and while I don't quite know what to think yet, it's certainly spurred a lot of interesting internal questions.  Here's one that came to me while driving into work this AM - maybe you can help.

Many of the observable stars in our galaxy have names, right?  Castor, Pollux, Deneb, etc.  What is our star (the sun) called?  It's seems presumtuous to call it "the sun."  After all, every civilization in every solar system would probably think of their star as "the sun."  That feels pretty egocentric.

My question is, do we have some way of referencing our star, "the sun," that is appropriately relative to other positions in the galaxy, as well as our own?

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

sa91879 wrote:

... do we have some way of referencing our star, "the sun," that is appropriately relative to other positions in the galaxy, ...?

Sol is a common name for it, though I'm not sure if it's "official."   Helios is another. 

sa91879 wrote:

I stumbled onto this website yesterday, and while I don't quite know what to think yet, it's certainly spurred a lot of interesting internal questions.

Sounds like you're on the right track, then.  Welcome to NR!

3 (edited by Iriana 2005-01-25 18:48:34)

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

Hi There (o:

What would you name it? I do not know what I would name it but it will be fun to mull it over....Will get
back to you on this one “¢ ´ ¯`“¢ —O º°' ´Ã‚è ¯Ã‚è`

4

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

Phoebus Apollo, Surya, Sol, Helios, Aten/Ra, Shamash, Oryares/Tomases, Jahbulon, to name a few. There are 108 names for the sun in the Hindu religion.

5 (edited by wandering1 2005-01-25 19:54:44)

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

An impressive list, Alushe.  I was going to say Sol and Ra.

I think that the Sun may be a big underestimated player in the events that may unfold over the next ten years or so.

Increased solar flares could cause disruption to sattelite communications devices.  Also, there may be current or planned frequency control mechanisms that could be disrupted by solar activity.

HAARP and such global control/manipulation plans could be thrown in disarray if the sun gets too wild.

It may be more accurate to think of Sun/Earth changes in the coming years, rather than just Earth changes.  We could add the rest of the solar system as well for possible increasing Sun/Earth/Solar System changes.

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

If we're going to include religious names for the sun, let's not overlook the currently-reigning champion, Jesus Christ.

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

Beat me to it Morning Sun..

Yes, we have anthropromophised all the celestial cycles into convincing personally relatable tales. A method for passing on glactic knowledge?

"It's hard to advance freedom in a country that has been strangled by tyranny." - G.W. Bush 04/13/2004

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

I have to say I would go for "Sol" as a name for our sun, but I guess we would have to call ourselves Solarians smile . I think Sol first appeared in the SF literature (particularly in I. Asimov's writings, I could be wrong about this). Scientists just call it The Sun, so I think it's up to us to give it a name and make it stick world wide ( am I thinking to big???).
What's up with all those names from the antiquity. I like them but they represent the ancient names of the gods associated with the sun. I thought we went past believing that sun is a golden chariot pulled by flaming horses. It would be pretty hard for us to explain to an alien race (if we meet one) why we would associate a star with a person. Still for the sake of our race's past I could get used to one of those.

I dare any alien to come to meet with me. If you are out there come see me I'll keep it between us (no publicity). Do you have what it takes? ...thought so! Or do you think you are to good for me?  ha ha ha ha
Zbye-Zbye --- Can you fly? If you can't get on my back and I will take you to the sky

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

I thought that Buddha was currently reigning.  :-)

Perhaps we can give it to Jesus for expression of the heart space and Buddha for awareness of the oneness.

10 (edited by sa91879 2005-01-26 13:41:01)

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, but don't all the names mentioned (sol, shemesh, etc.) just mean "sun" in other languages?

Look at it this way - pretend you're God.  You're taking a break from directing the cosmos to check out our galaxy.  Your best friend comes over and points to our solar system, and says "Hey!  What's that star called?"  You say, that's ________ .  Neat, isn't it?"  Well, saying "Sol" would be exactly the same thing as saying "the sun," only in Spanish. 

I guess Helios comes closest - at least it fits the exisiting system of giving stars Greek names/letters, thereby putting us on the same playing field as every other solar system.

Ditto on "the moon," by the way.  Say we make contact with aliens.  They ask us if we've done any traveling.  We proudly tell them that we've landed on Mars and the Moon.  There are what, fifty moons in our solar system?  Just because that one's closest, doesn't make it THE moon.  There's Titan Metis, Adrastea...but ours is THE moon.  Come on!

If we are ever going to truly advance our conciousnessesesss, we have to start shifting our thinking towards relativism and stop being so egocentric.  How would someone outside our own position view us?

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

sa91879, you posted a really challenging question smile
But, the question implies the presumption that every thing bears a name as some kind of inherent nature. That might be the case; because everything has a special vibration/quality and one could put letters together that match that typical vibration. I doubt the human beings that gave the stars their names did that.
You answered your question by yourself:

sa91879 wrote:

If we are ever going to truly advance our conciousnessesesss, we have to start shifting our thinking towards relativism

A man is born gentle and weak. At his death he is hard and stiff.
Green plants are tender and filled with sap. At their death they are withered and dry.
Therefore the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death. The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.

12 (edited by Alushe 2005-01-30 15:04:32)

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

It has all those different names because there is more than one culture on this planet. Most sun myths (and myths in general) are not only entertaining tales, but insightful archetypes for the human condition and psyche. I personally find it abhorrent that people dismiss such myths as archaic and primitive just because we have "science" to enfold us under it's wing and teach us everything.

There are many diverse sun myths, some cultures have similar myths (eg Inca & Maori, the people are not getting enough sun so a hero does something about it), but what alot of them have in common is that the sun is responsible for either creating humanity, or teaching it the secrets of civilisation.

Norse mythology gives us Freyr, who visits his wife in the underworld giving us winter, but also symbolising the polaric swinging from light to darkness and back. This is reflected to some degree or other in almost all myths representing the struggle between light and darkness, the Jesus myth notwithstanding.

Jesus is "the light of the world", when he dies, the sun darkens. Upon his resurrection "when the sun had risen,  they went to the tomb.... As they entered the tomb they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe... he said to them 'do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He hath been raised."

The Jesus myth (and christianity in general) is not that unique. It is, similar to hinduism, a menagerie of myths, traditions and beliefs assimilated into the original judeic practise (esp. see the Cult of Mithras). Christianity derives it's central myth (jesus' birth, death and resurrection) from the most primal centre of human thought. All cultures have a similar myth, whether it is Odin hanging himself on Yggdrasil for knowledge of the runes (logos), or the phoenix dying and being resurrected from it's own ashes, the myth of Osiris, Isis and Set http://www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/legendofosiris.htm , and the inevitable judgement day myths all fit into this way of thinking, with the world being reborn into greatness after the deluge (or war, fire, darkness).

"For the traditional culture, all that we do in our lifetimes is merely a replay of events that took place in myths... All human experience in the past derived its value from myth, which was perceived as infinitely more significant than the life of an individual." - J. F. Bierlein

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

Sole-pronounced "so-lay" but do not know how to get that French accent thing over the "e."

Anyway, that is my choice. Has it already been used before?

14

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

é   -   Hold the ALT key and push 130 then release.

Re: Does our sun have a "star" name?

Alushe wrote:

Hold the ALT key and push 130 then release.

I tried that just for fun! ... It doesn't work! Am I dumb??? smile

I dare any alien to come to meet with me. If you are out there come see me I'll keep it between us (no publicity). Do you have what it takes? ...thought so! Or do you think you are to good for me?  ha ha ha ha
Zbye-Zbye --- Can you fly? If you can't get on my back and I will take you to the sky