Tonglingxing

phantasy image of a phoenix bird on a mound with trees: AI-generated

Tongling (桐陵) (桐陵), is a very old Chinese name for the sixth star in the right wall of the Zigong super-constellation. The original spelling is Tóng Líng (Phoenix Tree Mound, 桐陵). The name Tonglingxing was adopted for the star HIP 33694 in Camelopardalis.

Concordance, Etymology, History

The Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido (Tianxiang Lieci Fenye zhi tu, Diagram of the Astrological Field Allocations) preserves the most ancient configuration of Chinese asterisms, allowing Tongling to be securely identified with HIP 33694. The name is also explicitly labeled in another Tang-period star map, the Gezi Yuejin tu (Gridded Monthly Progress Diagram), confirming its position and continued recognition during that era.

See Zigong (紫宮) for more identification.

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name Tongling has been proposed in November 2025 for the star HIP 33694 at Vmag = 4.5. However, there is an asteroid name "Tongling" which is spelled differently in Chinese but not in transliteration (asteroid 12418铜陵星, as opposed to 桐陵 for the star).

Thus, WGSN chose to adopt the name Tonglingxing for the star HIP 33694 in Camelopardalis. The name was adopted on 22 February 2026.

Reference

• References (general)
• References (early modern)