The Big Dipper is the seven bright stars in the night sky. Their shapes look like ancient timesLadle wineIt is named the Big Dipper.[1-2][10-11]
The Big Dipper starts from the front of the dipper toDipper handleAt the end of, they are successively named as α, β, γ, δ, ε, ζ and η Ursa Major, which were respectively called by Han astronomers in ancient times:Tianshu、Tianxuan、Tianji、Heavenly power、Yuheng、Kaiyang、Shake light(Yaoguang).Among them, Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, and Tianquan are composed of Doushen“Quebec”；Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Yaoguang are composed of a handle, which was called“Dipper”。[16]
In ancient Chinese myths and legends, the Big Dipper is the maker of the order of heaven and earth. Spring birth, summer growth, autumn harvest, and winter Tibet all follow the direction of the Big Dipper.[10]
The Big Dipper is an important star in the northern hemisphere sky. It is named because the seven stars are as zigzag as the Big Dipper.The Big Dipper consists of seven stars: Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Yaoguang (also called Yaoguang). In ancient times, they were also called Greedy Wolf, Jumen, Lucun, Wenqu, Lianzhen, Wuqu, and Breaking Army.[1]In ancient China, the star sky was divided intoSanyuan 28su, the Big Dipper belongs toPurple PlacanticlineA star officer of.According to the Jinshu Astronomical Annals, "The pivot is the heaven, Xuan is the earth, Ji is the man, power is the time, Yu Heng is the sound, Kaiyang is the law, and shaking light is the star."
In modern astronomy, magnitude is a measure of the luminosity of celestial bodies. The smaller the magnitude, the brighter the light emitted by the stars.Among the seven stars, "Yuheng" is the brightest with a brightness of 1.77, and "Tianquan" is the darkest with a brightness of 3.31.The "Kaiyang" in the seven stars seems to be a star, but there is a very small companion star near the "Kaiyang", called "Auxiliary" or "Kaiyang Zengyi".[3]In the western constellation division, the Big Dipper is located at the tail of the constellation Ursa Major.At present, the Western astronomical community adopts the Bayer naming method. The name of each star is represented by a Greek letter plus the name of the constellation, and the order of the Greek letters in the alphabet represents the brightness ranking of the star in the constellation.According to Bayer's nomenclature, the seven stars of the Big Dipper are respectively called: Ursa Major η, Ursa Major ζ, Ursa Major ε, Ursa Major α, Ursa Major β, Ursa Major γ, and Ursa Major δ. The first three stars form the handle of the Big Dipper, and the last four stars form the body of the Big Dipper.
Schematic Diagram of the Big Dipper
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According to the earliest existing almanac recording farming in China《Xia Xiaozheng》Record: "The first month... Doubing County is at the bottom... In June, the Doubing County is at the top at the beginning of dusk"
Compiled in the Warring States Period《Gan Shi Xing Jing》It is recorded that "The Big Dipper is the seven political systems, and the princes in the sky are also the emperor's chariots." The king sat on the Big Dipper to inspect the four places, and set four hours, divided into cold and hot days.《He Guanzi》The expression is more clear: "When the handle points to the east, it means spring; when the handle points to the south, it means summer; when the handle points to the west, it means autumn; when the handle points to the north, it means winter."
During the Western Han Dynasty, the Big Dipper was officially used as the standard star for 12 months, and the handle of the Big Dipper moved 30 ° on the celestial sphere every month.According to《Huainanzi Astronomical Training》It is recorded that "the emperor Zhang Siwei used to fight, and the month moved to an hour, and the place was reversed. The first month was Yin, the December was ugly, and the year was one year old, and the beginning was the end." It was also recorded in the Records of the Historian · Tianguan Book that "the division of Yin and Yang, the establishment of four seasons, the five elements, the shifting of degrees, and the determination of various disciplines were all related to the fight." That is to say, in ancient China, the Big Dipper was regarded as a fixed direction, a fixed season, and a fixed disciplineThe ruler of timing. "There are similar records in the Celestial Asterology and Astrology Chart.
Constellation azimuth
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The Big Dipper belongs toursa majorPart of the tail of the bear.Connect the two stars of Doukou (Tianshu and Tianxuan) and extend the distance towards Doukou by about 5 times, then find the Polaris.The star recognition song includes: "Star recognition starts from the Big Dipper and starts from north to west." It means that beginners can confirm the positions of other constellations based on the position of the Big Dipper.[5]The ancients' attention to the Big Dipper was largely due to its application in identifying directions.According to the relative position of the Big Dipper and the Polaris, you can find the Polaris in the true north direction, so the old saying goes, "Look at the Big Dipper at night and know the north and south.".[3][6][17]
In addition, Arcturus, one of the 21 brightest stars in the whole day, namely Alpha Andromeda, can be found on the extended line of the handle direction of the Big Dipper.
The Big Dipper in the night sky
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3D image
The dipper formed by the Big Dipper is just the scene seen when observing the Earth. When observing the seven stars from other directions, they will form completely different patterns.In fact, the Big Dipper is just seven ordinary stars in the Milky Way. They have no special relationship and are very far away from each other.For example, Tianshu is about 124 away from the earthLight yearThe distance between Tianxuan Star and the earth is about 79 light-years.Therefore, the Big Dipper we see is just a two-dimensional projection of the three-dimensional figure of the seven stars in the direction of the Earth.If you want to have a deeper understanding of the Big Dipper, it is essential to build a three-dimensional image model.
Stellar self motion
The appearance of the Big Dipper in the sky is constantly changing, which is the result of the stars themselves.
In fact, stars are also constantly moving in the space, but because the distance of stars moving in a year is extremely small compared with the distance between stars and the earth, it seems as if they are "stationary" as a whole, which is why the so-called "stars" come from.But in detail, the motion of stars consists of the motion of stars along the line of sight and the motion of stars perpendicular to the line of sight, the latter is called the star's self motion.The performance of the self motion of stars in astronomical observation is that the relative position of stars will produce small changes, but this change is too small relative to the distance between the earth and stars, so it can hardly be detected.
The self motion of the Big Dipper is different, which leads to their slow relative motion all the time.Five of the stars move in the same direction at roughly the same speed, while "Tianshu" (the first star from the mouth of the bucket) and "Shake Light" (the seventh star from the mouth of the bucket) move in the opposite direction.Due to the existence of stars themselves, the shape of the Big Dipper will change greatly in the long cosmic changes.In about 100000 years, the shape of this ladle will no longer exist.
The self motion of the Big Dipper and the change of its shape
Seasonal indication
《He Guanzi》It is recorded that "when the handle of the dipper points to the east, all is spring; when the handle points to the south, all is summer; when the handle points to the west, all is autumn; when the handle points to the north, all is winter." It means that at midnight in the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, the handle of the Big Dipper will point to the southeast, northwest and northwest respectively.This phenomenon is caused by the earth's revolution.[13]
For this phenomenon, it can be simply understood that the rotation of the earth leads to different directions of the sun relative to the earth in different seasons. Therefore, people face different directions and positions of the stars in different seasons at night, so they can see that the direction of the Big Dipper is also different.That is to say, the change of the direction of the Big Dipper can be used as a token of the earth's revolution, which is the cause of the changes of the four seasons. Therefore, the change of the direction of the Big Dipper can be used as a reference for seasonal changes.
This phenomenon can also be explained by the movement of the sun on the celestial sphere.The celestial sphere is an imaginary sphere, with the observer as the center and infinity as the radius.When all the celestial bodies are projected onto this sphere, a "celestial sphere" is formed to facilitate the study of celestial motion.Since the magnitude of the star's self motion is very small and seems almost motionless, it can be considered that the star is "embedded" in the celestial sphere.The celestial axis is the extension of the earth's rotation axis. The large circle where the extension of the earth's equator intersects the celestial sphere is called the celestial equator.The earth rotates from west to east. When we observe the stars in the sky with our own reference system, we see the movement of the stars from east to west.We may think that this is the celestial sphere rotating from west to east around the celestial axis, and the stars embedded in the celestial sphere also move with it. This movement is called the diurnal apparent movement.Since the sun is very close to us, it cannot be regarded as "embedded" in the celestial sphere.As the earth revolves around the sun, it will carry out the annual apparent motion as well as the daily apparent motion.The annual apparent motion is that the sun moves backward on the background of the starry sky and runs once a year.In the celestial sphere, the sun is required to be in the same position relative to the observer at the same time every night, and the position of the sun itself relative to the background of stars on the celestial sphere is changing every year. Therefore, after first determining the position of the sun, the positions of stars at the same time at night in different seasons are actually different,The direction of the Big Dipper will also rotate with the Earth's revolution for a period of one year.
Big Dipper
Astronomical data
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Big Dipper
Beidou I: Tianshu
Beidou I: Tianshu
constellation
Alpha Ursa Major
Right ascension (epoch J2000.0)
11h 03m 40.67s
Western name
Dubhe（ alpha Ursae Majoris）
Declination (epoch J2000.0)
+61° 45' 03.72"
Apparent magnitude
1.79 etc
distance
123.6 ± 2.2 light years
Absolute magnitude
-1.10 etc
luminosity
165.1 ± 8.3 x luminosity of the sun
Beidou II: Tianxuan
Beidou II: Tianxuan
constellation
Beta Major (Tianxuan, Giant Gate Star)
Right ascension (epoch J2000.0)
11h 01m 50.48s
Western name
Merak (beta Ursae Majoris)
Declination (epoch J2000.0)
+56° 22' 56.73"
Apparent magnitude
2.37 etc
distance
79.7 ± 0.3 light year
Absolute magnitude
0.61 etc
luminosity
63.0 ± 1.3 x luminosity of the sun
Big Dipper III: Tianji
Big Dipper III: Tianji
constellation
Ursa Major γ (Tianji, Lucunxing)
Right ascension (epoch J2000.0)
11h 53m 49.85s
Western name
Phecda (gamma Ursae Majoris)
Declination (epoch J2000.0)
+53° 41' 41.14"
Apparent magnitude
2.44 etc
distance
83.2 ± 0.8 light years
Absolute magnitude
0.40 etc
luminosity
65.255 x solar luminosity
Beidou IV: Tianquan
Beidou IV: Tianquan
constellation
Ursa Major δ (Tianquan, Wenqu Star)
Right ascension (epoch J2000.0)
12h 15m 25.56s
Western name
Megrez (delta Ursae Majoris)
Declination (epoch J2000.0)
+57° 01' 57.42"
Apparent magnitude
3.31 etc
distance
80.5 ± 0.3 light year
Absolute magnitude
1.39 etc
luminosity
14x luminosity of the sun
Big Dipper Five: Yu Heng
Big Dipper Five: Yu Heng
constellation
Epsilon Ursa Major (Yuheng, Lianzhen)
Right ascension (epoch J2000.0)
12h 54m 01.75s
Western name
Alioth (epsilon Ursae Majoris)
Declination (epoch J2000.0)
+55° 57' 35.36"
Apparent magnitude
1.77 etc
distance
82.6 ± 0.4 light year
Absolute magnitude
-0.20 etc
luminosity
102x luminosity of the sun
Beidou VI: Kaiyang
Beidou VI: Kaiyang
constellation
ζ Ursa Major (Kaiyang, Wuquxing)
Right ascension (epoch J2000.0)
13h 23m 55.54s
Western name
Mizar (zeta Ursae Majoris)
Declination (epoch J2000.0)
+54° 55' 31.27"
Apparent magnitude
2.04 etc
distance
82.9 ± 0.6 light year
Absolute magnitude
0.32 etc
luminosity
33.3 ± 2.1 x luminosity of the sun
Add a secondary star to the opening sun
Add a secondary star to the opening sun
constellation
Ursa Major 80
Right ascension (epoch J2000.0)
13h 25 m13.54s
Western name
Alcor (Ursae Majoris 80)
Declination (epoch J2000.0)
+54° 59' 16.65"
Apparent magnitude
3.99 etc
distance
81.7 ± 0.3 light year
Absolute magnitude
2.00 etc
luminosity
14.0 x luminosity of the sun
Beidou VII: Shake Light (Yaoguang)
Beidou VII: Shake Light (Yaoguang)
constellation
Ursa Major η
Right ascension (epoch J2000.0)
13h 47m 32.44s
Western name
Alkaid/Benetnasch
Declination (epoch J2000.0)
+49° 18' 47.76"
Apparent magnitude
1.86 etc
distance
103.9 ± 0.8 light year
Absolute magnitude
-0.67 etc
luminosity
594 ± 31 x luminosity of the sun
Astrological application
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Seasonal division
In traditional Chinese mythology, the Big Dipper is the maker of the order of heaven and earth. Spring, summer, autumn harvest and winter Tibet all come with the direction of the Big Dipper handle.[10]
It is recorded in He Guanzi that: "The handle of the dipper points to spring in the east, summer in the south, autumn in the west, and winter in the north." Because of the existence of the annual movement of the stars mentioned above, the handle of the Big Dipper points to different directions in the night of different seasons, so the ancients based on the direction of the Big Dipper in the night sky,Then we can judge the solar term, so as to guide agricultural production not to miss the season.[3]
The six stars of the Big Dipper indicate twelve months. The position indicated by the handle of the seven stars of the Big Dipper is used as the standard to determine the month, which is calledDoujian, that is, in the calendar“month”。Dipper handleCyclic rotation, a clockwise rotation is a cycle, which is called one "year old", that is, one year.According to the Huainanzi Astronomical Training, "Emperor Zhang Siwei used it to fight. The moon moved one hour, and the place was reversed. The first month was Yin, the twelfth month was ugly, and the year was one year old, and the turn was the beginning and end." The "fight" here refers to the handle of the Big Dipper.The Book of the Han Dynasty - Chronicles of the Law and Calendar records that: "The beginning of the day is a festival, and the end of the day is the twelve stars below the Doujian, and the second is known according to the Doujian."[15]
Age determination time
Working people in ancient China began to explore the mysteries of the universe by observing the stars very early, and thus deduced a complete and profound culture of watching stars.The Big Dipper is an important star sign in the Northern Hemisphere. The changes of the stars correspond to the natural rhythm changes in the corresponding regions of the Northern Hemisphere, so it became the basis for ancient people to judge the changes of seasons.The 24 solar terms were originally formulated according to the rotating direction of the handle of the Big Dipper, which is an important application of the ancient Chinese stargazing culture in agriculture.[7-8]
The rotation of the Big Dipper can be used as the basis for dividing the days and years on the earth.With the North Celestial Pole as the center, the space location of the 12 houses of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, etc. is divided. The Big Dipper rotates around the North Celestial Pole. The space location pointed by its monthly, daily, and hourly points is constantly changing under the effect of the daily and annual visual movements, just like the hour hand, minute hand, and second hand of the clock move according to their own laws.It can be seen that the daily and annual periodic changes of the sun also have the function of clocks and calendars.The ancients abstracted theTwelve Earthly BranchesLaiji Calendar.
The Big Dipper goes through the twelve houses year by year and day by day. The four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter of the year are consistent with the morning, afternoon, dusk and night of the day. That is, between a day and a year, the handle of the Big Dipper will rotate around the North Pole and go through the twelve houses obtained by Doujian.Palace of Yin, Mao and Chen in spring, Palace of Si, Wu and Wei in summer, Palace of Shen, You and Xu in autumn, Palace of Hai, Zi and Chou in winter;One day, one goes to Yin, Mao and Chen palaces in the morning, to Si, Wu and Wei palaces in the afternoon, to Shen, You and Xu palaces in the evening, and to Hai, Zi and Ugly palaces in the night.It is based on the contrast of travel. The day of spring rises to the east, the day of summer rises to the sky, the day of autumn falls, and the day of winter falls back.In this way, the change of the Big Dipper can show the change of climate and temperature in a year, and at the same time, the size of cold, warm, dry and wet can be recycled in it, and the geographical position can also be defined.[9]
Big Dipper
Test star
KaiyangIt is a famous double star.There is a small companion star near "Kaiyang", which was named "Fu" (80 Ursa Major) in ancient China, with brightness of 3.99, etc.[12]
It is recorded in the Records of the Historian - Tianguan Book: "The auxiliary stars are bright and near, and the auxiliary officials are close and strong; the small ones are rejected, and the weak ones are weakened."[4]It is said in the Book of Jin Astronomy Annals that "the auxiliary star is close to Kaiyang, so the auxiliary star is successful, and the prime minister is also like a prime minister. The seven political systems are bright, and their country is prosperous, and the auxiliary star is bright, so the minister is strong." It is also mentioned in He He's "The Annals of Spring Zhu · Sheshan Duxing Inkstone" of the Song Dynasty: "The color is positive and the sky is blue, and there are seven gold stars in the fine Luowen. The layout is like a Dousu, and the auxiliary star is there. Because the eye is the Duxing Inkstone." He Jingming's《Large complex set》He wrote: "The Beidou will be used to stimulate the discipline, and the life will be supplemented by the stars."
It is said that in ancient times, both Chinese and foreign armies used the twin stars to test the eyesight of soldiers, and regarded them as "test stars" to test the eyesight of soldiers.If the secondary star can be distinguished, the vision will reach 5.1 under the modern standard.
The myth of the Big Dipper
Big Dipper Seven StarsIt is the seven star gods worshipped by Taoism, namely the "Big Dipper".In fact, the worship of stars including the Big Dipper in Chinese traditional culture has a long history, long before the formation of Taoism.The Confucian ritual system also emphasizes the worship of the stars all over the sky.
China is one of the countries with the earliest development of celestial literature in the world. The observation of the Big Dipper has been recorded for a long time, but the most complete record of the name of the seven stars was first seen in Wei Shu of the Han Dynasty.Initially there were two names, one of which was《Spring and Autumn Transportation Bucket Pivot》It is recorded that "the first celestial pivot, the second rotation, the third Ji, the fourth power, the fifth weight, the sixth Kaiyang, and the seventh shimmer. The first to the fourth are Kui, the fifth to the seventh are the standard, and the combination is the fight." In addition, the Kui stars worshipped by students in all ages are the first star (or the first four stars) of the Big Dipper, and some people believe that Kui stars are the Wenqu stars among the seven stars.
The folk astrology culture is popular with the saying that "the Big Dipper is the master of death, and the South Dipper is the master of life".The Taoist "Beidou Sutra" also has a similar saying. According to the time of birth, people's lives are divided into seven stars: "Beidou first Yangming greedy wolf Taixing, son born people belong to; Beidou second Yin Jing giant Yuan Xingjun, Chou Haisheng belongs to; Beidou third real person Lu Cun real star, Yin Xu born people belong to;The fourth mysterious song of the Big Dipper is the new star king, and people living in the prime time belong to it;The fifth elixir of Beidou is Lian Zhengang, the star of Chen Shensheng;Ji Xingjun, the sixth North Pole Wuqu of the Big Dipper, has not been born;On the seventh day of the Beidou Pass, Guan Xingjun broke through the army. People born in the afternoon belong to him. "People can find their main life star according to their birthday.
Correlation astrology
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Little Dipper
Little DipperIt is the general name of the seven brighter stars in the constellation Ursa Minor. Similar to the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major, they are also arranged in the shape of a dipper. However, due to their low brightness, they are far less eye-catching than the Big Dipper, so they are called Little Big Dipper.Gouchenyi, the brightest star among them, is what we call the Polaris.You can find it on the five times extension line of the connection between Tianxuan and Tianshu.
Beidou Nine Stars
There are also many ancient books aboutBeidou Nine StarsHowever, there are also disputes about which two are the more.
In the Song Dynasty Taoist Heavenly Book "Cloud Collection Seven Signatures", Volume 24 "Sun Moon Star Department" mentioned the existence of the Big Dipper Seven Stars, as well as the auxiliary stars and bi stars, which was called the Big Dipper Nine Stars at that time.Later, the two stars gradually disappeared and became "seven present and two hidden", so today there is a saying of the Big Dipper and nine stars.It is said that those who can see these two hidden stars can live a long life.According to the Chronicles of Astronomy in the History of the Song Dynasty, "the eighth is Bi Star, which is to the right of the seventh star and is invisible. The Chronicles of the Han Dynasty is mainly about Youzhou. The ninth is the auxiliary star, which is to the left of the sixth star and is common. The Chronicles of the Han Dynasty is mainly about merging states." The auxiliary star on the left of the sixth star (Kaiyang) should refer to the increase of Kaiyang, while Bi Star is a hidden star, which seems to contradict the statement of "seven appearances and two concealments".The note below the book reads: "The Big Dipper and the auxiliary stars are eight, while the Han Annals cloud nine stars, which are used by Wu Mi and Yang Weide. The Shi Ji Suo Yin says: 'The Big Dipper stars go nine thousand miles apart from each other. If the two yin stars are not visible, they go eight thousand miles apart from each other.' And Dan Yuanzi's" Bu Tian Ge "also cloud nine stars, and the Han Book must have a basis." It shows that the author is not clear which two stars are added.[14]
The nicknames of these nine stars in the "Seven Sign of Cloud Collection" are: the first positive star, the second yin essence star, the third reality star, the fourth dark Pluto, the fifth Danyuan star, the sixth Polaris, the seventh Tianguan star, the eighth hole star (auxiliary star), and the ninth Yin yuan star (bi star). The nine great emperors each dominate their stars and take care of 28 constellations.(According to the seventh sign of the Cloud Collection, "The Huanglao Sutra says: 'The first star of the Big Dipper is the soul of the sun star. The second star Xuan is the soul of the yin star. The third star Ji is the soul of the Immortal Star. The fourth star Quan is the soul of the dark star. The fifth star Yuheng is the soul of the Danyuan Star. The sixth star Xuan is the soul of the Polaris.The seventh wave of the light star, then the soul of the Tianguan Star Daming also.The eighth hole star is the soul of the auxiliary star, Jingyangming.The ninth hidden Yuan star is the soul of Bi star
There is another saying that "the eighth star of the Big Dipper is called swagger, and the ninth star is called Xuange". If the handle of the Big Dipper is extended further, two dark stars can be seen behind it, one called Xuange, and the other called swagger, that is, lambda and gamma stars.With these two factors taken into account, the Big Dipper seven stars have been extended to the Big Dipper nine stars.Of course, the brightness of the two added stars is also far less than that of the first seven stars.However, in practical application, the handle of Beidou Jiuxing points to the Antares, which can also be used to determine the position and season.
