The Greek Alphabet Home

The letters of the Greek alphabet are used in the Bayer designation of stars. This designation consists of a lower-case, Greek letter followed by the possesive case of the latin name of the constellation.  The letters are generally applied in order of brightness, but this is not universally true.  Thus, for example, the brightest star in the constellation Orion is α Orionis.  The Greek letters in order, left to right, are as follows.  (I show only the lower-case letters because, as far as I know, the upper-case versions are never used in astronomy.)

α   alpha         β   beta         γ   gamma         δ   delta         ε   epsilon         ζ   zeta;
η   eta;         θ   theta         ι   iota         κ   kappa         λ   lambda;         μ   mu
ν   nu         ξ   xi         ο   omicron         π   pi         ρ   rho         σ   sigma
τ   tau         υ   upsilon         φ   phi         χ   chi         ψ   psi         ω   omega 


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