Zhinü (织女)
Authors: Lyu Haocheng
Zhī Nǚ (织女, Weaving Girl), Chinese constellation consists of 3 stars.
Concordance, Etymology, History
The Weaving Girl (Zhinü) was a celestial maiden who wove the clouds and rosy dawns. The Cowherd (Niulang) was a handsome mortal who fell in love with her. They married and had two children, but the Queen Mother of the West was furious. She scratched a great river across the sky—the Milky Way—to separate them forever. The lovers could only weep across the celestial river once a year, on the seventh night of the seventh lunar month, when a flock of magpies would form a bridge with their wings, allowing them to meet for one fleeting embrace.
Every summer, stargazers can see the "Summer Triangle"—Vega (the Weaver Girl), Altair (the Cowherd), and Deneb (one star of Tianjin) —forming a vast triangle in the eastern sky, the stars of the lovers and their bridge.
Identification of stars
| Star Names or Orders(Traditional/Qing) | Ho PENG YOKE[1] | Yi Shitong[2]
Based on catalogue in 18th century |
Pan Nai[3]
based on Xinyixiangfayao Star Map |
Pan Nai[4]
based on catalogues in Yuan dynasty |
SUN X. & J. Kistemaker[5]
Han Dynasty |
Boshun Yang[6]
before Tang dynasty |
Boshun Yang[6]
Song Jingyou(1034) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st (Determinative) | α Lyr | α Lyr | α Lyr | α Lyr | α Lyr | α Lyr | α Lyr |
| 2nd | ε1 Lyr | ε1 Lyr | ε1 Lyr | ε1 Lyr | ε1 Lyr | ε1 Lyr | ε1 Lyr |
| 3rd | ζ1 Lyr | ζ1 Lyr | ζ1 Lyr | ζ1 Lyr | ζ1 Lyr | ζ1 Lyr | ζ1 Lyr |
Maps (Gallery)
| historical map | modern identification
(Yang 2023) |
same in Stellarium 24.4 |
|---|---|---|
 |
IAU Working Group on Star Names
In 202x, the name of the historical constellation "xxx" was suggested to be used for one of the stars in this constellation. ...
Decision: ...
References
- ↑ P.-Y. Ho, “Ancient And Mediaeval Observations of Comets and Novae in Chinese Sources,” Vistas in Astronomy, 5(1962), 127-225.
- ↑ Yi Shitong伊世同. Zhongxi Duizhao Hengxing Tubiao中西对照恒星图表1950. Beijing: Science Press.1981: 56.
- ↑ Pan Nai潘鼐. Zhongguo Hengxing Guance shi中国恒星观测史[M]. Shanghai: Xuelin Pree. 1989. p226.
- ↑ Pan Nai潘鼐. Zhongguo Hengxing Guance shi中国恒星观测史[M]. Shanghai: Xuelin Pree. 2009. p443.
- ↑ Sun Xiaochun. & Kistemaker J. The Chinese sky during the Han. Leiden: Brill. 1997, Pp241-6.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 B.-S. Yang杨伯顺, Zhongguo Chuantong Hengxing Guance Jingdu ji Xingguan Yanbian Yanjiu 中国传统恒星观测精度及星官演变研究 (A Research on the Accuracy of Chinese Traditional Star Observation and the Evolution of Constellations), PhD thesis, (Hefei: University of Science and Technology of China, 2023). 261.
