Ramu Kaviyoor

THE INDIAN 'NAKSHATRAS' The nakshatra s are listed in Sanskrit along with Malayalam names. The star names are given with the following information: Long genitive name, short genitive name (Bayer), popular name (if available) and distance in Light Years (LY) from the Earth. Although a comment or two on the characteristics of a nakshatra are mentioned (collected from various astrological sources), the emphasis is on the physical features of stars. There is no astrological analysis of nakshatra s. The brief write-up on each star ends with its rank in the list of 500 bright stars (referred to as the '500 club' in this article) that can be seen at night with naked eye. Description of each nakshatra (asterism) ends with a list of stars which are traditionally accepted by Indians. This is followed by a ‘ Single Star (Expert’s Opinion)’ that mentions which star can singly represent a nakshatra if at all anybody wants to have such information. This informat