question: Why are blue dwarfs and red giants named like this if all stars are white?
comment: Because not all stars are white. Our own sun is white, but red, blue, green, and so on do happen.
passages: BULLET::::- Sidus Ludoviciana, an 8th-magnitude star in the asterism of the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major, halfway between Mizar and Alcor. It was discovered on 2 December 1722 by Johann Georg Liebknecht, who mistook it for a planet and named it after Louis V, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.
  
  BULLET::::- Scholz's star is a late-M dwarf + T-type brown dwarf (M9.5 + T5) system, discovered in 2013 by Ralf-Dieter Scholz. It has large parallax, but relatively small proper motion, and it is known for its close flyby to the Sun about 70,000 years ago.
   BULLET::::- Eggen's Nearby Star is CoD -31°622 in Sculptor. Briefly thought to be near the solar system but later found not to be (see Sky and Telescope, 53, February 1977, page 107).
  
  BULLET::::- Fehrenbach's Star is HD 116745 in globular cluster Omega Centauri.
  
  BULLET::::- Herschel's Garnet Star is Mu Cephei, a red supergiant particularly remarkable for its deep red color, first described by William Herschel.
  
  BULLET::::- Herschel's Wonder Star is Beta Monocerotis, see Sky and Telescope 1/2005, page 101.
   BULLET::::- Sualocin and Rotanev for components of Alpha and Beta Delphini, two stars which appeared in the Palermo star catalogue of 1814. They were eventually identified as the reversed spelling of "Nicolaus Venator", a Latinised version of Nicolò Cacciatore, assistant to the astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi. It is not clear whether Piazzi intended to name the stars after his assistant, or if Cacciatore made the names up himself.
  
  Section::::Unapproved names.
   BULLET::::- Van Biesbroeck's Star is VB 10, a very small, faint, red dwarf named after George Van Biesbroeck, who discovered it in 1944 – the smallest and faintest star then known.
  
  BULLET::::- Van Maanen's Star is a white dwarf, discovered in 1917 by Adriaan van Maanen, only the second white dwarf discovered.
  
  BULLET::::- Wachmann's Flare Star is V371 Orionis.
  
  BULLET::::- Walborn's Star is a Wolf-Rayet Star in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in Dorado.
  
  BULLET::::- Warren and Penfold's (WP) Star is the optical counterpart of X-3 in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
   A few stars are named for individuals. These are mostly names in common use that were taken up by the scientific community at some juncture. The first such case (discounting characters from mythology) was Cor Caroli (α CVn), named in the 17th century for Charles I of England. The remaining examples are mostly named after astronomers, the best known are probably Barnard's Star (which has the highest known proper motion of any star and is thus notable even though it is far too faint to be seen with the naked eye), Kapteyn's Star and recently Tabby's Star.
   BULLET::::- Sanduleak-Pesch Binary Star is a white dwarf binary in Hercules.
  
  BULLET::::- Sanduleak-Stephenson Star/Object is also known as Sanduleak-Stephenson 433, SS433 in Aquila, a neutron star in radio source W50.
  
  BULLET::::- Schaeberle's Flaming Star is the source of the Flaming Star Nebula IC 405 (aka Cederblad 42) in Auriga.
  
  BULLET::::- Scheiner's Star is BD +15°2083 (HD 83225) in Leo (see Sky Catalogue 2000.0, page xlix, Glossary of Selected Astronomical Names).
   BULLET::::- Huruhata's Variable is the WZ Sagittae type dwarf nova EG Cancri.
  
  BULLET::::- Innes' star, better known as LHS 40, is a high proper-motion star named after the discoverer of Proxima Centauri. In 1930 Luyten listed this as the fifth-closest star system, but his belief was mistaken as it turned out to be 41 light-years away.
  
  BULLET::::- Kapteyn's Star, a subdwarf, was discovered in 1897 by Jacobus Kapteyn, the star with the highest known proper motion at the time of its discovery.
  
  BULLET::::- Kemble's Cascade Star Chain is a chain of stars in Camelopardalis, discovered by Father Lucian Kemble.
   It bore the traditional names "Phecda" or "Phad", derived from the Arabic phrase "fakhth al-dubb" 'thigh of the bear'. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included "Phecda" for this star.
  
  To the Hindus this star was known as "Pulastya", one of the Seven Rishis.
   BULLET::::- Teegarden's star, a nearby star discovered in 2003 in archived data taken years earlier for NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Tracking program. The star is named in honor of Bonnard J. Teegarden, the NASA astrophysicist that led the discovery team.
  
  BULLET::::- Tombaugh's Star is TV Corvi (see Sky and Telescope 6-2005, page 108).
  
  BULLET::::- Tycho's Star, name given to the supernova later designated SN 1572, after Tycho Brahe, though he did not have priority of discovery.
   In Chinese, (), meaning "Northern Dipper", refers to an asterism equivalent to the Big Dipper. Consequently, the Chinese name for Beta Ursae Majoris itself is (, ) and (, ).
  
  Section::::In culture.
  
  USS Merak (1918) and USS Merak (AF-21), both of United States navy ship.
  
  In the original "Star Trek" series episode The Cloud Minders, the planet "Merak II" is said to be suffering from a botanical plague that can only be treated by the use of the mineral zenite.
   BULLET::::- Kepler's Star, name given to the supernova later designated SN 1604 when first observed, after Johannes Kepler, who studied it extensively though he did not have priority of discovery.
  
  BULLET::::- Klemola's Star is BD +10°2179 (SAO 99230) in Leo.
  
  BULLET::::- Krzeminski's Star is a blue supergiant, part of the pulsar Centaurus X-3, discovered by the Polish astronomer Wojciech Krzemiński in 1974.
  
  BULLET::::- Kurtz's Light Variable Star is HD 188136 in Octans.
  
  BULLET::::- Kuwano's Object/Star is the Nova-like object PU Vulpeculae.
  
  BULLET::::- Lamont's Star is a peculiar star near the nucleus of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31).
   BULLET::::- Barnard's Star, the fourth-closest star to the solar system, named after the American astronomer E. E. Barnard who discovered it has the highest known proper motion of any star.
  
  BULLET::::- Cor Caroli (Latin for 'heart of Charles') for the star Alpha Canum Venaticorum, so named in honour of King Charles I of England by Sir Charles Scarborough, his physician.
   The Kalapalo people of Mato Grosso state in Brazil called Alpha and Beta Muscae (along with Beta and Kappa Crucis) "Kutsu anangagï" "Ornate Hawk-Eagle's double flutes". The Wardaman people of the Northern Territory in Australia perceived the main stars of Musca as a ceremonial boomerang, part of the Central Arena—a sacred area surrounding the constellation Crux that depicts the lightning creation beings and where they teach Wardaman customs; Alpha and Beta also signified a ceremonial headband, while Gamma and Delta represented two armbands. In central Australia, the Arrernte and Luritja peoples living in on a mission in Hermannsburg viewed the sky as divided between them, east of the Milky Way representing Arrernte camps and west denoting Luritja camps. The stars of Musca, along with Fomalhaut, Alpha Pavonis, and Alpha and Beta Gruis, were all claimed by the Arrernte.
   Bayer catalogued many stars in the constellation, giving them the Bayer designations from Alpha to Omega and then using lowercase Roman letters to g. John Flamsteed added the Roman letters h, i, k, l and m (these stars were considered "informes" by Bayer as they lay outside the asterism of Cygnus), but were dropped by Francis Baily.
   Polynesian peoples had no name for the constellation in particular, though they had many names for Canopus. 
  
  The Māori name "Ariki" ("High-born"), . and the Hawaiian "Ke Alii-o-kona-i-ka-lewa", "The Chief of the southern expanse". both attest to the star's prominence in the southern sky, while the Māori "Atutahi", "First-light" or "Single-light", and the Tuamotu "Te Tau-rari" and "Marere-te-tavahi", "He-who-stands-alone". refer to the star's solitary nature.
  
  It was also called "Kapae-poto", ("Short horizon"), because it rarely sets from the vantage point of New Zealand; and "Kauanga" ("Solitary"), when it was the last star visible before sunrise.
  
  Section::::Future.
   BULLET::::- One from the legend of the Trojan War, where the constellation Carina was once part of the now-obsolete constellation of Argo Navis, which represented the ship used by Jason and the Argonauts. The brightest star in the constellation was given the name of a ship's pilot from another Greek legend: Canopus, pilot of Menelaus' ship on his quest to retrieve Helen of Troy after she was taken by Paris.
   BULLET::::- Dnoces for the star Iota Ursae Majoris and which is "Second" spelled backwards, alluding to Edward Higgins White, "II".
  
  BULLET::::- Regor for the star Gamma Velorum and which is "Roger" spelled backwards, the first name of "Roger" Bruce Chaffee.
   The star bore the traditional names "Talitha", "Talitha Borealis" and "Alphikra Borealis". "Talitha", which was shared with Kappa Ursae Majoris) comes from the Arabic phrase "the third spring, or leap, of the ghazal". The term "Borealis" meaning "the north side" in Latin. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included "Talitha" for this star.
   The book "" by R. H. Allen (1899) has had effects on star names:
  
  BULLET::::- It lists many Assyrian/Babylonian and Sumerian star names recovered by archaeology, and some of these (e.g. Sargas and Nunki) have since been approved by the IAU WGSN.
  
  BULLET::::- It lists many Chinese star names (e.g. Cih alias Tsih), though these have not come into general usage.
  
  BULLET::::- Allen represented the "kh" sound by 'h' with a dot above (ḣ) and at least one astronomy book (by Patrick Moore), using Allen as a source, has misread this unfamiliar letter as 'li'.
  
  Section::::Proper names.:Stars named for individuals.
   BULLET::::- Because of imprecision in old star catalogs, it was not always clear exactly which star within a constellation a particular name corresponded to (e.g., Alniyat could refer to Sigma Scorpii or Tau Scorpii, Chara).
  
  BULLET::::- Some stars in entirely different constellations had the same name: Algenib in Perseus and Algenib in Pegasus; Gienah in Cygnus and Gienah in Corvus, Alnair in Grus and Alnair in Centaurus.
   The traditional name "Chara" was originally applied to the "southern dog", but it later became used specifically to refer to Beta Canum Venaticorum. Chara "(χαρά)" means 'joy' in Greek. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included "Chara" for this star.
   It bore the traditional name of "Scheat", a name that had also been used for Delta Aquarii. The name was derived from the Arabic "Al Sā'id" "the upper arm", or from "Sa'd". In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organised a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardise proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included "Scheat" for this star (the name "Skat" was later approved for Delta Aquarii).
   BULLET::::- Liller's Star is a star near Centaurus X-3.
  
  BULLET::::- Lovas's Supernova is SN 1964e in MCG 9-20-51 (in Ursa Major).
  
  BULLET::::- Luyten's Star, another red dwarf, is named after Willem Jacob Luyten, its discoverer.
  
  BULLET::::- Luyten's Flare Star is a nearby UV Ceti variable (L 726-8), see Burnham's Celestial Handbook, page 641.
  
  BULLET::::- Merrill's Star is a high-velocity Wolf-Rayet Star at the nucleus of planetary nebula PK 50+3.1 in Sagitta.
  
  BULLET::::- Olbers' Star is a peculiar star in Virgo (mentioned in the Deep-Sky Name Index 2000.0 by Hugh C. Maddocks) (Foxon-Maddocks Associates).
   "Psi¹ Draconis" bore the traditional name of "Dziban" or "Dsiban," derived from the Arabic Adh-Dhi'ban, meaning "The two wolves" or "The two jackals". In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems. It approved the name "Dziban" for the component Psi¹ Draconis A on 5 September 2017 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names.
   BULLET::::- The Bayer designation is such a system, published by Johann Bayer in 1603. It introduced a system of designating the brightest stars in each constellation by means of Greek (or less often Latin) letters, and is still widely used. Bayer generally assigned letters by magnitude class: 1st magnitude stars received the earliest letters in the alphabet, followed by 2nd magnitude stars, and so forth (though there are many exceptions). The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 naked-eye stars, and several stars not catalogued by Bayer have been added by subsequent astronomers.
  
presuppositions: All stars are white. All stars are white.
corrections: Stars can be different colors. Not all stars are white.
raw_presuppositions: All stars are white. All stars are white.
raw_corrections: Stars can be different colors. Not all stars are white.