TraditionalChinese astronomy has a system of dividing thecelestial sphere intoasterisms orconstellations, known as "officials" (Chinese星官xīng guān).[1]
The Chinese asterisms are generally smaller than the constellations ofHellenistic tradition. TheSong dynasty (13th-century)Suzhou planisphere shows a total of 283 asterisms, comprising a total of 1,565individual stars.[2]The asterisms are divided into four groups, theTwenty-Eight Mansions (二十八宿,Èrshíbā Xiù) along the ecliptic, and the Three Enclosures of the northern sky. The southern sky was added as a fifth group in the lateMing dynasty based on European star charts, comprising an additional 23 asterisms.
The Three Enclosures (三垣,Sān Yuán) include thePurple Forbidden Enclosure, which is centered on thenorth celestial pole and includes those stars which could be seen year-round,[3] while the other two straddle the celestial equator.
The Twenty-Eight Mansions form anecliptic coordinate system used for those stars visible (from China) but not during the whole year, based on the movement of the Moon over alunar month.[4]
The Chinese system developed independently from the Greco-Roman system since at least the 5th century BC, although there may have been earlier mutual influence, suggested by parallels to ancientBabylonian astronomy.[5]
The system of twenty-eight lunar mansions is very similar (although not identical) to theIndianNakshatra system, and it is not currently known if there was mutual influence in the history of the Chinese and Indian systems.
The oldest extantChinese star maps date to theTang dynasty. Notable among them are the 8th-centuryTreatise on Astrology of the Kaiyuan Era andDunhuang Star Chart.It contains collections of earlier Chinese astronomers (Shi Shen,Gan De andWu Xian) as well as ofIndian astronomy (which had reached China in theearly centuries AD).Gan De was aWarring States era (5th century BC) astronomer who according to the testimony of the Dunhuang Star Chartenumerated 810 stars in 138 asterisms. The Dunhuang Star Chart itself has 1,585 stars grouped into 257 asterisms.
The number of asterisms, or of stars grouped into asterisms, never became fixed, but remained in the same order of magnitude (for the purpose of comparison, the star catalogue compiled byPtolemy in the 2nd century had 1,022 stars in 48 constellations).The 13th-century Suzhou star chart has 1,565 stars in 283 asterisms, the 14th-century KoreanCheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido has 1,467 stars in 264 asterisms, and the celestial globe made by Flemish JesuitFerdinand Verbiest for theKangxi Emperor in 1673 has 1,876 stars in 282 asterisms.[citation needed]
The southern sky was unknown to the ancient Chinese and is consequently not included in the traditional system. WithEuropean contact in the 16th century,Xu Guangqi, an astronomer of the lateMing dynasty, introduced another 23 asterisms based on European star charts.[6] The "Southern Asterisms" (近南極星區) are now also treated as part of the traditional Chinese system.
The Chinese word for "star, heavenly body" is星xīng.Thecharacter星 originally had a more complicated form:曐, a phono-semantic character (形聲字) whose semantic portion,晶, originally depicting three twinkling stars (three instances of the "sun" radical日).
The modern Chinese term for "constellation", referring to those as defined by the IAU system, is星座 (xīng zuò). The older term星官 (xīng guān) is used only in describing constellations of the traditional system. The character官's main meaning is "public official" (hence the English translation "officials" for the Chinese asterisms), it historically could also meant "official's residence".[7][8]
The generic term for "asterism" is星群 (xīng qún, lit. "group of stars").
The Three Enclosures are thePurple Forbidden enclosure (紫微垣,Zǐ Wēi Yuán), theSupreme Palace enclosure (太微垣,Tài Wēi Yuán) and theHeavenly Market enclosure (天市垣,Tiān Shì Yuán).
The Purple Forbidden Enclosure occupies the northernmost area of the night sky. From the viewpoint of the ancient Chinese, the Purple Forbidden Enclosure lies in the middle of the sky and is circled by all the other stars.It covers the Greek constellations Ursa Minor, Draco, Camelopardalis, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Auriga, Boötes, and parts of Ursa Major, Canes Venatici, Leo Minor and Hercules.
The Supreme Palace Enclosure covers the Greek constellations Virgo, Coma Berenices and Leo, and parts of Canes Venatici, Ursa Major and Leo Minor.
The Heavenly Market Enclosure covers the Greek constellations Serpens, Ophiuchus, Aquila and Corona Borealis, and parts of Hercules.
The Three Enclosures are each enclosed by two "wall" asterisms, designated垣yuán "low wall, fence; enclosure" (not to be confused with the lunar mansion ""Wall"壁):
The Twenty-Eight Mansions are grouped intoFour Symbols, each associated with a compass direction and containing seven mansions. The names and determinative stars are:[9][10]
| Four Symbols (四象) | Mansion (宿) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Name (pinyin) | Translation | Determinative star | |
| Azure Dragon of the East (東方青龍) Spring | 1 | 角 (Jué/Jiăo) | Horn | α Vir |
| 2 | 亢 (Kàng) | Neck | κ Vir | |
| 3 | 氐 (Dī) | Root | α Lib | |
| 4 | 房 (Fáng) | Room | π Sco | |
| 5 | 心 (Xīn) | Heart | α Sco | |
| 6 | 尾 (Wěi) | Tail | μ Sco | |
| 7 | 箕 (Jī) | Winnowing Basket | γ Sgr | |
| Black Tortoise of the North (北方玄武) Winter | 8 | 斗 (Dǒu) | (Southern)Dipper | φ Sgr |
| 9 | 牛 (Niú) | Ox | β Cap | |
| 10 | 女 (Nǚ) | Girl | ε Aqr | |
| 11 | 虛 (Xū) | Emptiness | β Aqr | |
| 12 | 危 (Wéi/Wēi) | Roof | α Aqr | |
| 13 | 室 (Shì) | Encampment | α Peg | |
| 14 | 壁 (Bì) | Wall | γ Peg | |
| White Tiger of the West (西方白虎) Fall | 15 | 奎 (Kuí) | Legs | η And |
| 16 | 婁 (Lóu) | Bond | β Ari | |
| 17 | 胃 (Wèi) | Stomach | 35 Ari | |
| 18 | 昴 (Mǎo) | Hairy Head | 17 Tau | |
| 19 | 畢 (Bì) | Net | ε Tau | |
| 20 | 觜 (Zī) | Turtle Beak | λ Ori | |
| 21 | 參 (Cǎn/Shēn) | Three Stars | ζ Ori | |
| Vermilion Bird of the South (南方朱雀) Summer | 22 | 井 (Jǐng) | Well | μ Gem |
| 23 | 鬼 (Guǐ) | Ghost | θ Cnc | |
| 24 | 柳 (Liǔ) | Willow | δ Hya | |
| 25 | 星 (Xīng) | Star | α Hya | |
| 26 | 張 (Zhāng) | Extended Net | υ¹ Hya | |
| 27 | 翼 (Yì) | Wings | α Crt | |
| 28 | 軫 (Zhěn) | Chariot | γ Crv | |
The sky around the southcelestial pole was unknown to ancient Chinese. Therefore, it was not included in theThree Enclosures andTwenty-Eight Mansions system. However, by the end of theMing dynasty,Xu Guangqi introduced another 23 asterisms based on the knowledge of European star charts.[11] These asterisms were since incorporated into the traditional Chinese star maps.
The asterisms are:
| English name | Chinese name | Number of stars | Hellenistic Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sea and Mountain | 海山 (Hǎi Shān) | 4 | Carina/Centaurus/Musca/Vela |
| Cross | 十字架 (Shí Zì Jià) | 4 | Crux |
| Horse's Tail | 馬尾 (Mǎ Wěi) | 3 | Centaurus |
| Horse's Abdomen | 馬腹 (Mǎ Fù) | 3 | Centaurus |
| Bee | 蜜蜂 (Mì Fēng) | 4 | Musca |
| Triangle | 三角形 (Sān Jiǎo Xíng) | 3 | Triangulum Australe |
| Exotic Bird | 異雀 (Yì Què) | 9 | Apus /Octans |
| Peacock | 孔雀 (Kǒng Què) | 11 | Pavo |
| Persia | 波斯 (Bō Sī) | 11 | Indus /Telescopium |
| Snake's Tail | 蛇尾 (Shé Wěi) | 4 | Octans /Hydrus |
| Snake's Abdomen | 蛇腹 (Shé Fù) | 4 | Hydrus |
| Snake's Head | 蛇首 (Shé Shǒu) | 2 | Hydrus /Reticulum |
| Bird's Beak | 鳥喙 (Niǎo Huì) | 7 | Tucana |
| Crane | 鶴 (Hè) | 12 | Grus /Tucana |
| Firebird | 火鳥 (Huǒ Niǎo) | 10 | Phoenix /Sculptor |
| Crooked Running Water | 水委 (Shuǐ Wěi) | 3 | Eridanus /Phoenix |
| White Patches Nearby[n 1] | 附白 (Fù Bái) | 2 | Hydrus |
| White Patches Attached[n 1] | 夾白 (Jiā Bái) | 2 | Reticulum /Dorado |
| Goldfish | 金魚 (Jīn Yú) | 5 | Dorado |
| Sea Rock | 海石 (Hǎi Dàn) | 5 | Carina |
| Flying Fish | 飛魚 (Fēi Yú) | 6 | Volans |
| Southern Boat | 南船 (Nán Chuán) | 5 | Carina |
| Little Dipper | 小斗 (Xiǎo Dǒu) | 9 | Chamaeleon |
Ancient Chinese astronomers designated names to the visible stars systematically, roughly more than one thousand years beforeJohann Bayer did it in a similar way. Basically, every star is assigned to an asterism. Then a number is given to the individual stars in this asterism. Therefore, a star is designated as "Asterism name" + "Number". The numbering of the stars in an asterism, however, is not based on the apparent magnitude of this star, but rather its position in the asterism. The Bayer system uses this Chinese method occasionally, most notably with the stars in theBig Dipper, which are all about the same magnitude; in turn, the stars of the Big Dipper,北斗 in Chinese, are numbered in Chinese astronomy in the same order as with the Bayer designations, withDubhe first in both cases.
For example,Altair is named河鼓二 in Chinese.河鼓 is the name of the asterism (literally the Drum at the River).二 is the number designation (two). Therefore, it literally means "the Second Star of the Drum at the River". (Bayer might have called Altair "Beta Tympani Flumine" if he had been cataloguing Chinese constellations.)
Some stars also have traditional names, often related tomythology orastrology. For example,Altair is more commonly known as牛郎星 or牵牛星 (the Star of the Cowherd) in Chinese, after the mythological story of theCowherd and Weaver Girl.
These designations are still used in modern Chinese astronomy. All stars for which the traditional names are used in English are routinely translated by their traditional Chinese designations, rather than translations of their catalogue names.
The following is a list of the88 IAU constellations with the Chinese translation of their names. Each linked article provides a list of the (traditional) Chinese names of the stars within each (modern) constellation.[clarification needed]
