Friday, February 27, 2009

pronunciation

I'm pretty good with my Greek alphabet now. I remember the sequence of the 24 letters. I know some of the unusual forms, like for theta and sigma. I can write the symbols or characters. And mostly importantly, I can interpret them correctly—usually—as I read a star chart.

Over time, I've become better at my constellation and star names. But I've concentrated so far on the main forms of the constellations. As I work on the genitive forms, I'll need a good guide for pronunciations.

There are lots out there. But I'd prefer something of an official nature. Sky & Telescope has a good online reference for both Greek and constellations.

Over at Earth & Sky, they have a listing with a spoken component. You can hear the star name or constellation read aloud.

Of course, if you own the RASC Observer's Handbook, that's another excellent source.

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