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, Jìnnánjíxīngōu) under the name Cross (十字架, Shízìjià).

Possibly Acrux (Alpha Crucis), Mimosa (Beta Crucis) and Gacrux (Gamma Crucis) are bright stars in this constellation that 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

The map of Chinese constellation in constellation Crux area consists of :

Four SymbolsMansion (Chinese name)RomanizationTranslationAsterisms (Chinese name)RomanizationTranslationWestern star nameChinese star nameRomanizationTranslation
- 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Shízìjiàyī1st star
α Cru[2]
十字架二Shízìjiàèr2nd star
四渎西南星SìdúxīnánxīngStar in the southwest of Four Channels constellation
β Cru[2]十字架三Shízìjiàsān3rd star
δ Cru[2]
十字架四Shízìjiàsì4th star
座旗南星ZuòqínánxīngStar in the southwest of Seat Flags constellation
ε Cru十字架增一Shízìjiàzēngyī1st 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 29 日
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