Bibing

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann, Eric Mamajek, Youla Azkarrula

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Bibing is a modern star name adopted by the International Astronomical Union in the IAU-Catalog of Star Names (IAU-CSN). Its origin is Chinese. It is the name of the star λ Tau in constellation Taurus.

Concordance, Etymology, History

Fig 2. Lodge Bi, in the Eastern Han Tomb Mural, excavated in Qushuhao, Jingbian County, Shannxi Province. The rabbit represent the Pleiades, called Mao(昴, Hair) in China.

Bì ( Net, 畢), or Bì Xiù (Net Mansion/Lodge, 畢宿), one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions, is the fifth mansion of the White Tiger of the West. The 8th star is called by number, Bixiuba (畢宿八, The eighth star of Bixiu), or with the proper name "Bibing (畢柄, The handle of Bi)".

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name was discussed and adopted by the IAU WGSN on 17 May 2026 for λ Tauri, and added to the IAU-CSN. In 1848, the light from this system was found to vary periodically and it was determined to be an eclipsing binary system—the third such discovered. λ Tauri is a remarkably tight triple star system in the constellation Taurus, with two of the components eclipsing (orbital period ~4 days), with a third lower-mass non-eclipsing companion orbiting the inner pair in ~39 days.

Following WGSN guidelines for a previously unnamed multiple system, where a cultural name would have have usually referred to the unresolved light of the multiple, WGSN technically adopts the name for the primary A. Bibing is the primary star, of type

Reference

• References (general)