[[File:Nandou in Stellarium.jpg|thumb|'''Nandou in Stellarium''']]
[[File:Rubbing of the Pictorial Stone Image of Four Symbols and Yellow Emperor (Eastern Han dynasty), Nandou is at the lest side.jpg|thumb|Rubbing of the Pictorial Stone Image of Four Symbols and Yellow Emperor (Eastern Han dynasty), Nandou is at the lest side.]]
Nándǒu (Southern Dipper南斗), also called Dou Xiu, is the eighth of the Twenty-eight Lunar Lodges and the first lodge of the Northern Black Tortoise group. It consists of six stars in the modern constellation Sagittarius. It has existed at least 2500 years, is one of the oldest asterisms in China.
[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|Image that shows the earliest map or drawing]]
== Concordance, Etymology, History ==
[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|Image that shows the cultural object (e.g. in archaeological museum)]]
The name Dou refers to a dipper, ladle, or measuring vessel; because this dipper lies in the southern part of the sky in contrast to Beidou, the Northern Dipper, it is called Nandou, the Southern Dipper.
Chinese constellation.
In official astrological literature Nandou was not merely a vessel-shaped figure. Its member stars were interpreted as a Celestial Temple, Heavenly Storehouse, Heavenly Treasury, celestial gate, imperial banner, and administrative pivot. The material image of a dipper was therefore reinterpretated as a wider symbolic system of imperial administration. This asterism was also regarded by some people as governing ranks, emoluments, lifespan, and military affairs.
In later popular and Daoist contexts, Nandou acquired the symbolic role of governing life or birth, paired with Beidou as governing death. Tombstone portraits unearthed from archaeological excavations often depict the scene of the Southern Dipper paired with the Northern Dipper. The story in ''Soushen ji'', juan 3, about Guan Lu管辂 seeing two old men playing chess is often summarized as "the Northern Dipper registers death, the Southern Dipper registers life." This differs from the early institutional astrology of the Twenty-eight Lodges, but it possibly shows the older association of Nandou with the allotted lifespan was reorganized in medieval and later religious imagination, or conversely.
As a lunar mansion, Nandou often served as a positional reference in records of unusual celestial phenomena.
One of the most important records is considered by some scholars to be the guest star record of SN 386.<blockquote>"Emperor Xiaowu of Jin, 11th year of the Taiyuan reign period, third month. There was a guest star in Nandou [LM8] that lasted until the 6th month (Jul 13 to Aug 10), when it disappeared"太元十一年三月，客星在南斗，至六月乃没。 (Jin shu, Tianwen zhi, ch. 13; Song shu, Tianwen zhi, ch. 25 according to Xu, Pankenier, Jiang 2000[3]).[[File:G7.7–3.7 A Young Supernova Remnant Probably Associated with the Guest Star in 386 CE (SN 386).jpg|thumb|G7.7–3.7 A Young Supernova Remnant Probably Associated with the Guest Star in 386 CE (SN 386)]]</blockquote>In addition, there are some other records of suspected supernovae/novae that occurred near Nandou; due to the early age, there are no corresponding records elsewhere in the world. Therefore, Nandou has played an important role in astrophysical research.
== Concordance, Etymology, History ==
...
=== Identification of stars ===
=== Identification of stars ===
The modern identification of the six stars of Nandou is relatively stable: ζ, τ, σ, φ, μ, and λ Sagittarii. Historical catalogues describe the internal form as a bowl (kui) and a handle (bing or biao). The determinative star is the fourth star of the bowl, φ Sagittarii; while Tang astronomer Yixing also mentioned that in Han dynasty the first star of the bowl was used as determinative star. Because the direction of numbering differs among catalogues, the table below is arranged by traditional asterism position, with Yi Shitong's common numbering indicated in parentheses.
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+
|+
!Star Names or Orders(Traditional/Qing)
!Star Names or Orders(Qing)
!style="color: gray;" |Ho PENG YOKE<ref>P.-Y. Ho, “Ancient And Mediaeval Observations of Comets and Novae in Chinese Sources,” ''Vistas in Astronomy'', 5(1962), 127-225.</ref>
!style="color: gray;" |SUN X. & J. Kistemaker<ref>Sun Xiaochun. & Kistemaker J. ''The Chinese sky during the Han''. Leiden: Brill. 1997, Pp241-6.</ref>
Han Dynasty
!Boshun Yang<ref name=":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). 235-296.</ref>
before Tang dynasty
!Boshun Yang<ref name=":1" />
Song Jingyou(1034)
|-
|-
| 1st/4th
| 3rd
| style="color: gray;" | x
| style="color: gray;" | sigma Sgr
|style="color: gray;" | x
|style="color: gray;" | x
|style="color: gray;" | x
|style="color: gray;" | x
| x
| x
|-
|-
| 2nd/3rd
|4th
|style="color: gray;" | x
| style="color: gray;" | phi Sgr
|style="color: gray;" | x
|style="color: gray;" | x
|style="color: gray;" | x
|style="color: gray;" | x
| x
| x
|-
|-
| 3rd/2nd
|5th
|style="color: gray;" | x
|mu Sgr
|style="color: gray;" | x
|style="color: gray;" | x
|style="color: gray;" | x
|style="color: gray;" | x
| x
| x
|-
|-
|4th/1st
|6th
|style="color: gray;" | x
|gamma Sgr
|style="color: gray;" | x
|style="color: gray;" | x
|style="color: gray;" | x
|style="color: gray;" | x
| x
| x
|}
|}
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!same in Stellarium 24.4
!same in Stellarium 24.4
|-
|-
|[[File:Kulou on the Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido Star Chart.jpg|alt=historical image of Kulou (Korea)|thumb|Kulou on the Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido Star Chart]]
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Revision as of 13:48, 3 July 2026
< Nandou (南斗) >
Authors: Boshun YANG, Susanne M Hoffmann
Nandou in StellariumRubbing of the Pictorial Stone Image of Four Symbols and Yellow Emperor (Eastern Han dynasty), Nandou is at the lest side.
Nándǒu (Southern Dipper南斗), also called Dou Xiu, is the eighth of the Twenty-eight Lunar Lodges and the first lodge of the Northern Black Tortoise group. It consists of six stars in the modern constellation Sagittarius. It has existed at least 2500 years, is one of the oldest asterisms in China.
The name Dou refers to a dipper, ladle, or measuring vessel; because this dipper lies in the southern part of the sky in contrast to Beidou, the Northern Dipper, it is called Nandou, the Southern Dipper.
In official astrological literature Nandou was not merely a vessel-shaped figure. Its member stars were interpreted as a Celestial Temple, Heavenly Storehouse, Heavenly Treasury, celestial gate, imperial banner, and administrative pivot. The material image of a dipper was therefore reinterpretated as a wider symbolic system of imperial administration. This asterism was also regarded by some people as governing ranks, emoluments, lifespan, and military affairs.
In later popular and Daoist contexts, Nandou acquired the symbolic role of governing life or birth, paired with Beidou as governing death. Tombstone portraits unearthed from archaeological excavations often depict the scene of the Southern Dipper paired with the Northern Dipper. The story in Soushen ji, juan 3, about Guan Lu管辂 seeing two old men playing chess is often summarized as "the Northern Dipper registers death, the Southern Dipper registers life." This differs from the early institutional astrology of the Twenty-eight Lodges, but it possibly shows the older association of Nandou with the allotted lifespan was reorganized in medieval and later religious imagination, or conversely.
As a lunar mansion, Nandou often served as a positional reference in records of unusual celestial phenomena.
One of the most important records is considered by some scholars to be the guest star record of SN 386.
"Emperor Xiaowu of Jin, 11th year of the Taiyuan reign period, third month. There was a guest star in Nandou [LM8] that lasted until the 6th month (Jul 13 to Aug 10), when it disappeared"太元十一年三月，客星在南斗，至六月乃没。 (Jin shu, Tianwen zhi, ch. 13; Song shu, Tianwen zhi, ch. 25 according to Xu, Pankenier, Jiang 2000[3]).
G7.7–3.7 A Young Supernova Remnant Probably Associated with the Guest Star in 386 CE (SN 386)
In addition, there are some other records of suspected supernovae/novae that occurred near Nandou; due to the early age, there are no corresponding records elsewhere in the world. Therefore, Nandou has played an important role in astrophysical research.
Identification of stars
The modern identification of the six stars of Nandou is relatively stable: ζ, τ, σ, φ, μ, and λ Sagittarii. Historical catalogues describe the internal form as a bowl (kui) and a handle (bing or biao). The determinative star is the fourth star of the bowl, φ Sagittarii; while Tang astronomer Yixing also mentioned that in Han dynasty the first star of the bowl was used as determinative star. Because the direction of numbering differs among catalogues, the table below is arranged by traditional asterism position, with Yi Shitong's common numbering indicated in parentheses.
Star Names or Orders(Qing)
Mordern Corspondance
1st
zeta Sgr
2nd
tau Sgr
3rd
sigma Sgr
4th
phi Sgr
5th
mu Sgr
6th
gamma Sgr
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. ...
,_Nandou_is_at_the_lest_side.jpg)
.jpg)
