During the Dark Ages in Europe when all things science were pretty much forgotten or left in obscurity, the Arabs kept up – and progressed with – the astronomical studies practiced by the ancient Greeks. These Arabic scientists recorded their observations meticulously, and in the process gave many of the brightest stars Arabic names in lieu of their Greek names. With the advent of the Renaissance and the return of scientific enlightenment to Europe, when European astronomers picked up where the Arabs left off, they continued with the Arabic names bestowed upon the stars. Consequently, to this day, we still call many of the stars by their Arabic names, e.g. Dubhe, Rigel, Betelgeuse, Mizar. These names often refer to physical elements of the constellation, for example 'the knee of the giant', or 'the back of the bear'. In today's class, we looked at the English translations of many of these names.