Al-Sufi's Investigation of Stars, Star Clusters and Nebulae

The distinguished Arabic astronomer, Al-Sufi (AD 903-986) is justly famous for his Book of the Fixed Stars, an outstanding Medieval treatise on astronomy that was assembled in 964. Developed from Ptolemy's Algamest, but based upon al-Sufi's own stellar observations, the Book of the Fixed Stars has been copied down through the ages, and currently 35 copies are known to exist in various archival repositories around the world. Among other things, this major work contains 55 astronomical tables, plus star charts for 48 constellations. For the first time a long-overdue English translation of this important early work is in active preparation.

In this paper we provide biographical material about Al-Sufi and the contents of his Book of the Fixed Stars, before examining his novel stellar magnitude system, and his listing of star clusters and nebulae (including the first-ever mention of the Great Nebula in Andromeda).