Indus in Chinese astronomy

The modern constellation Indus 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, Jìnnánjíxīngōu) under the name Persia (波斯, Bōsī).

The name of the western constellation in modern Chinese is 印第安座 (yìn dì ān zuò), meaning "the Indian constellation".

Stars

The map of Chinese constellation in constellation Indus 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) 波斯 Bōsī Persia
α Ind[2] 波斯二 Bōsīèr 2nd star
ζ Ind[3] / HD 200249[3] 波斯三 Bōsīsān 3rd star
θ Ind[3] / γ Ind[3] 波斯四 Bōsīsì 4th star
HD 205877[3] / HD 206427[3] 波斯五 Bōsīwu 5th star
δ Ind[3] 波斯六 Bōsīliù 6th star
ε Ind[3] / HD 208796[3] 波斯七 Bōsīqī 7th star
μ Ind[3] 波斯八 Bōsībā 8th star
ι Ind[3] 波斯九 Bōsījiǔ 9th star
HD 198766[3] 波斯十 Bōsīshí 10th star
HD 199623[3] 波斯十一 Bōsīshíyī 11th star
孔雀[4] Kǒngqiāo Peacock β Ind 孔雀增四 Kǒngqiāozēngsì 4th additional star

See also

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ (in Chinese) AEEA (Activities of Exhibition and Education in Astronomy) 天文教育資訊網 2006 年 7 月 30 日 Archived 2011-05-22 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m (in Chinese) 夢之大地 @ 國立成功大學 WebBBS DreamLand @ National Cheng Kung University WebBBS System
  4. ^ this is not original Chinese name in this constellation and listing is only for additional stars