Crux in Chinese astronomy
The modern constellation Crux is not included in the Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Mansions system of traditional Chinese uranography because its stars are too far south for observers in China to know about them prior to the introduction of Western star charts. Based on the work of Xu Guangqi and the German Jesuit missionary Johann Adam Schall von Bell in the late Ming Dynasty,[1] this constellation has been classified as one of the 23 Southern Asterisms (近南極星區, jìn nán jí xīng qū) under the name Cross (十字架, shí zì jià).
Possibly Acrux (Alpha Crucis), Mimosa (Beta Crucis) and Gacrux (Gamma Crucis) are bright stars in this constellation that are never seen in Chinese sky.
The name of the western constellation in modern Chinese is 南十字座 (nán shí zì zuò), meaning "the southern cross-shaped constellation".
Stars
[edit]The map of Chinese constellation in constellation Crux area consists of :
| Four Symbols | Mansion (Chinese name) | Romanization | Translation | Asterisms (Chinese name) | Romanization | Translation | Western star name | Chinese star name | Romanization | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | 近南極星區 (non-mansions) | Jìnnánjíxīngōu (non-mansions) | The Southern Asterisms (non-mansions) | 十字架 | Shízìjià | Cross | ||||
| γ Cru[2] | 十字架一 | Shízìjiàyī | 1st star | |||||||
| α Cru[2] | ||||||||||
| 十字架二 | Shízìjiàèr | 2nd star | ||||||||
| 四渎西南星 | Sìdúxīnánxīng | Star in the southwest of Four Channels constellation | ||||||||
| β Cru[2] | 十字架三 | Shízìjiàsān | 3rd star | |||||||
| δ Cru[2] | ||||||||||
| 十字架四 | Shízìjiàsì | 4th star | ||||||||
| 座旗南星 | Zuòqínánxīng | Star in the southwest of Seat Flags constellation | ||||||||
| ε Cru | 十字架增一 | Shízìjiàzēngyī | 1st additional star |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Sun, Xiaochun (1997). Helaine Selin (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 910. ISBN 0-7923-4066-3.
- ^ a b c d (in Chinese) AEEA (Activities of Exhibition and Education in Astronomy) 天文教育資訊網 2006 年 7 月 29 日