Weixiu

Not to be confused with Wei (胃) or Wei_(Disambiguation).

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann

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Weixiu 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 35 Arietis in constellation Aries.

Concordance, Etymology, History

Wèi (胃, Stomach) is a historical Chinese constellation in Aries that designates the stomach of the super-constellation of the White Tiger.

Xiù (宿) is Chinese for the lunar mansions, slices of right ascension. Wei (胃宿, Stomach) is one of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions.

There are three lunar mansions all romanized as wei — Stomach (胃, wèi), Tail (尾, wěi), and Rooftop (危, wēi) — but they carry different tones, so Chinese speakers would not confuse them in pronunciation.

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name was proposed to the IAU WGSN in 2023 but it has been discussed since then how to address the different "wei"s properly to respect the Chinese original. In 2026, the Chinese Name Group of WGSN proposed the following: for Stomach, use the name Weixiu; for Tail, each star already has its own individual name, so those names will be used in the future rather than the collective Wei; and for Rooftop, no nomination will be made, since all of its constituent stars have already been named.

On 15 October 2026, WGSN followed this suggestion and adopted the name Weixiu for the star 35 Ari in Aries.

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Reference

• References (general)
• References (early modern)
• Ian Ridpath's website (Star Tales )