Altair (α Aquilae) Tâyer, Nasr-e Tâyer, Karkas-e Parandé (#) Fr.: Altaïr The brightest star in → Aquila (apparent visual magnitude 0.77), and the twelfth brightest star in the sky. Altair is a whitish A7 → main sequence star. It has one of the fastest known rotational speeds, 242 km/s at the equator, compared with the Sun's about 2 km/s. Altair, from Ar. An Nasr at-Taiir "The Flying Vulture," from Nasr "vulture" + Ta'ir "flying." Karkas-e Parandé "The Flying Vulture" coined by Biruni (around A.D. 1000), from karkas "vulture," Av. kahrkâsa- "devourer hen," from *kahrka "hen" (Mod.Pers. kark "hen," karak "quail") + *âsa "to eat" (Mod.Pers. âš "food, soup") + Parandé "flying," from paridan "to fly" (from Mid./Mod.Pers. par(r) "feather, wing," Av. parəna- "feather, wing;" cp. Skt. parna "feather," E. fern; PIE *porno- "feather"). |