the Solarsystem
The sun
In the morning, among the cloud rises the sun and she lashes a gleaming ray to the land that gives the lives a great deal of passion. The sun – the one which we will think of and praise when we have a look to the world with great hope.
In the ancient China, the Chinese dub their king, ‘Yiandi’, as the ‘god of the sun’. In the colorful Greek myths, the god of the sun was called ‘Apollo’. He took a heptachord in his right hand and in his left hand was a golden ball that symbolized the sun. What he hoped is to give light and warmth to the lives. In fact, he was the god whom many people adored. In the astronomy, the symbol of the sun is ‘?’ which is so similar to ‘?’, the ‘Xiangying Wenzhi’ of Chinese, that represents the ‘egg of the space’.
The mass of the sun is 330,000 times larger than that of the earth, the volume 1,300,000 times and the radius is 700,000 kilometers, that is 109 times longer than that of the earth. Be that as it may, the sun is only regarded as an ‘ordinary’ fixed star. The interior of the sun is divided into three layers, the nuclear reaction area, the radiation area as well as the convection area.
The Mercury
The Mercury is the closest planet to the sun in the solar system and it was called "
??" in the ancient China. In the west, it was called "Mercury", who was a messenger for the gods in the Roman myths. Therefore, the Mercury is also used to call the messenger. In the solar system, the Mercury is the fastest planet: 48s. / hr. for rotation; 88 days for revolution.
As the Mercury is so
close to the sun and is relatively small in volume, it is not so easy for us to see it. The characteristics of the surface of the Mercury are so similar that of the surface of the moon. There are so many ring like mountain ranges of different sizes. The atmosphere of the Mercury is very scarce and the daily range of temperature is so large. In the daytime, the temperature in the surface reaches 427? or more but at night, the temperature can drop to about – 173?.
The radius of the Mercury is 2440 kilometers, which is 38.3% of that of the earth. The volume of the Mercury is just 5.62% of that of the earth. However, the mass of the Mercury is 0.05 times larger than the earth. The appearance of the Mercury is quite similar with the surface of the moon and its interior looks like that of the earth: which is divided into crust, magma and nucleus. Astronomers anticipate that the crust of the Mercury was formed by ??? and there is an iron nucleus which may be larger than the moon. The period of rotation of the Mercury is 58.646 days and the direction of its rotation and revolution is identical. As the period of its rotation and revolution is very close, the time of each day of the Mercury is even longer than the time it takes for each rotation. For the Mercury, its one day is equal to 176 days in the earth. For the former, the time of day and night are both 88 days.
There is no satellite around the Mercury, so the night in the star is filled with lonely feeling. She does not have a moon accompanying with her. In the solar system, the Venus is the brightest planet.
The Venus
During the dawn, we will see a particularly bright morning star upon the horizon in the east. Most people will call it "???". In the dusk, we will also see a brilliant star and it is always called ‘chang geng’, the classical name of the Venus. These two stars are actually one planet, the Venus. The Venus is one of the planets in the solar system and is the second closest planet to the sun. Also, it is the closest planet to the earth.
The Venus was called the ‘tai bai’ or ‘tai bai jin xing’ in ancient China. ‘tai bai jin xing’ was the god in the old myth. In ancient Greek, it was called ?????, that was a god representing love and beauty. As the Roman called that god as ‘Venus’, this explained why the Venus was called ‘Venus’.
The Venus is the most flashing star apart from the sun and the moon in the solar system. The illumination is – 4.4 in maximum, which is 14 times brighter than the famous Sirius. As there is no satellite around the Venus, we can see the ‘moon’ if we stand on the Venus at night. For the Venus, the earth is the most sparkling star. Since the Venus is closer to the sun, the sun people see in the Venus may be 1.5 times larger than what people see in the earth.
Some people may regard the Venus as a twinned sister of the earth. In fact, there are quite a lot of similarity between the Venus and the earth in terms of their structure. The radius of the Venus is about 6, 073 kilometers, which only 300 kilometers shorter than the earth and the volume is only 0.88 times larger than that of the earth. The mass is 4/5 of the earth. For the average density, the Venus is also a little bit smaller than that of the earth. Nonetheless, there are great differences between the earth and the Venus when it comes to their circumstances: high temperature in the surface area of the Venus, together with other killing conditions such as the absence of liquid water, the great pressure from the atmosphere and the severe shortage of oxygen, that make it altogether impossible for any lives to survive there. In this sense, they are only seemingly twinned sisters.
In the atmosphere of the Venus, carbon dioxide seize the largest proportion (over 97%). Also, there is a large dense cloud which is formed by thick sulfuric acid and 20- 30 kilometers in thickness. The temperature in the surface of the Venus is around 465- 485? and the pressure in the atmosphere is about 90 times larger than that of the earth.
The rotation of the Venus is quite special as the direction is different from that of other planets, which is from west to east. Therefore, we can see the sun rising from the west and falling to the east. It takes 243 days for the Venus to rotate in each period. In the Venus, one day is equal to 117 days in the earth. It means there are only 2 days per year in the Venus. We can only see two sunrises in each year. The speed of each revolution of the Venus is 35 km/ s. and each period is 224.7 days, through the oval- shaped orbit around the sun.
The earth
What is the shape of the earth? Where did she come? As early as 170 years ago, the human has long been bearing different brown studies of their home, the earth, and creating many brilliant legends. In ancient China, there is a story about the origin of the world. The myth of Greek regarding the origin of the world told that the space came from a mess. The first god was the god of the land called ??. She was also called ‘the mother of the land’, as she created the land, the ocean as well as the sky.
In fact, the earth is so old, about 4.6 billion years old which originated from the nebula. From about 3- 4 billion years ago, there have been protists in the earth. After a certain period of evolution, the earth came other kind of lives. The length of the equator’s radius of the earth is 6378.14 km on average that is 21 km longer than the radius of the poles. The interior structure of the earth is divided into 3 layers, the crust, magma and the nucleus. With the effect of the gravity, a great deal of air gathers around the earth that is called the atmosphere.
The earth is just like a top, which continuously rotate from west to east on the axis of rotation. The period of its rotation is 23hrs. 56mins. 4s., approximately 24 hrs. In the meantime, the earth has its revolution around the sun. The orbit of its revolution is in oval shape. The length of the orbit’s radius is 149, 597, 870 km. The time it takes in each period of revolution is 365.25 days, that is equal to 1 year.
The moon
When the night falls, a moon is hanged on the sky and produced flashing light to the lives. Such circumstances make people have a lot of abstraction. The moon also attracts people to stare at it. One poet called zhang ruo xu wrote a famous poem ‘When could the girl beside the lake have the first glance to the moon? When will the moon have its first glance to the girl standing beside the lake? The moon is mostly called ‘the orb of night’ in Chinese, also called ‘tai yin’. There was an endless stream of myths regarding the moon in ancient China. Among the myths in ancient Greece, the god of the moon is called ?????, who was also the god of hunting. The astronomical symbol of the moon looks like a winding and slender eyebrow. Also, the moon symbolises the bow of the god of moon.
A bright moon hangs in the sky and we can distinguish the bright area from the gloomy one. As the earlier astronomers thought that there was presence of sea in the gloomy area when they observed the moon, they called it ‘sea’ which has some famous ones such as ‘cloud sea’, ‘damp sea’, ‘quiet sea’, etc. In the bright area of the moon, a large number of ridges stand and form a linkage there. In the South Pole, we can see the ????? whose diameter is as long as 295 km, that area is enough for us to stuff the whole ??? into there. The deepest mountain ring is the Newton Ring, 8, 788 km in depth. Apart from, mountain rings, there are also some typical ridges. The high mountains and the coulees make a spectacular scene.
The age of the moon is about 4.6 billion years. The relationship between the moon and the earth is so close indeed. The moon also has crust, magma and nucleus. The depth of the crust is about 60- 65 km. Underneath the crust is another layer called magma that occupies a large proportion of the moon’s volume. At the very centre of the moon, there is the nucleus of the moon and the temperature of that area is about 1000? and the nucleus may be melting now.
The diameter of the moon is about 3, 476 km that is just 3/ 11 of that of the earth. The volume is as many as 1/ 49 of the earth’s volume. In respect of the mass of the moon, it is only 735 billion billion, that is only 1/ 81 of the earth’s. The gravity of the moon is about 1/ 6 of the earth’s.
The Mars
The Mars is one of the planets in the solar system. This is the fourth closest planet to the sun. In the space, it is seemingly an eye- catching lurid star. Amid the planets do we can observed the Mars moving slowly in variable direction, so does its illumination, the lowest is 1.5. When it is in its brightest state, -2.9, it can even brighter than the Sirius. As the colour of the Mars is like flame and it is not stable in its illumination and its moving direction, in ancient China, people liked to call it the ‘sparkling mystery’. In the ancient Roman myths, it was also regarded as a knight in a bloody suit of armor, Mars.
The soil of the Mars’ surface is full of ferric oxide. As there are a lot of ultraviolet rays reaching the surface of the Mars, the iron is converted into oxide in red and yellow. It may be an overstatement that the Mars is a ‘rusty world’. Owing to the fact that the distance between the sun and the Mars is quite long, the amount of the radiation received by the Mars is only 43% of the amount received by the earth. Therefore, the mean temperature on the Mars’ land is 30? lower than that of the earth and the daily range of temperature in the Mars can reach 100?. Around the equator of the Mars, the maximum temperature can be 20?. There is also a layer of atmosphere in the Mars, in which carbon dioxide is the main element (about 95%). Other elements include carbon monoxide and water vapor.
The Mars is smaller than the earth in size. The radius of the Mars’ equator is 3, 395 km, which is only half of the radius of the earth’ s equator. The volume is lower than 1/ 6 of that of the earth and the mass 1/ 10. The interior structure of the Mars is similar with the earth’s, crust, magma and nucleus.
The rotation of the Mars also has similarity with the earth. The period of each rotation is 24 hrs. 37 min. 22.6 s. The duration of one day of the Mars is a little bit longer than the duration in the earth. The Mars takes about 687 days for each period of revolution. Therefore, the Mars may be able to celebrate the coming of the year 2000 one year earlier than the people in the earth.
The Mars has 2 satellites, the closer one to it is called the ‘Mars 1’ and the other one is called the ‘Mars 2’. Since the Mars was the knight ??? in the Greek myths, astronomers used the names of his sons, ??? and ??? to name the two satellites.
The Jupiter
The Jupiter is the biggest planet in the solar system. It is the fifth planet from the sun. In the discipline of astronomy, the Jupiter is categorised as the ‘huge planet’. It is one of the brightest stars in the space, just lagging behind the Venus but brighter than the Sirius.
In ancient China, the Jupiter was called the ??. In the west, the astronomers called it ‘Jupiter’. Jupiter was the ‘king of the gods’ in the Roman myths. His status was corresponding to ?? in Greece.
The Jupiter is a spheroid planet. Its radius of the equator is some 142, 800 km, which is 11.2 times longer than that of the earth. For the volume, the Jupiter is 1, 316 times larger than the earth’s. Also, the volume of the Jupiter is 1.5 times more than the total sum of the volume of all the planets, satellites, asteroids and meteors in the solar system. When it comes to the mass, the Jupiter’s mass is 318 times more than that of the earth. Still, the density of the Jupiter is so small (only 1.33 g /cm cube on average).
The elements of the Jupiter’s atmosphere are similar with that of the earth. The temperature in that core is about 30, 000?. In the upper layer of the Jupiter’s atmosphere, the temperature is around - 140?. There is a strong magnetic field in the planet, and the intensity is 10 times stronger than that of the earth. Moreover, the structure of the planet is unique. It does not have a layer of crust but only the ocean of liquid hydrogen. The nucleus is made up of iron and silicon, which temperature is as high as 30, 000?.
The speed of the Jupiter’s rotation is very high, only 9 hrs. 50 min. 30 s. along the equator, which is the fastest in the solar system. The rotation axis is perpendicular to the surface of its orbit. As the speed of its rotation is so fast, the flat rate of the planet is very large. We can observe this situation with the astronomical telescope. For its revolution, it is moving around the sun on an oval- shaped trajectory in a speed of 13 km / s. The radius of the track is about 5.2 astronomical units. It takes the Jupiter about 11.86 years in each period of revolution. Therefore, a year in the Jupiter is equal to 12 years in the earth.
The Jupiter is the planet with the largest number of satellites in the solar system. We have observed 16 satellites up to today, which form a family with their mother, the Jupiter.
The Saturn
The Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun in the solar system. It is also the second largest planet in terms of its volume and mass, just lagging behind the Jupiter. We can also observe some similarities between the Saturn and the Jupiter. With the astronomical telescope, we can see the shape of the Saturn is like a sun helmet, as it got a brilliant halo around it and this makes the Saturn the most beautiful planet in the solar system.
In the ancient time, we called the Saturn ‘zhen xing’ or ‘tian xing’. In the west, it was called ‘Saturn’. No matter whether it was for the east or the west, the Saturn was always linked with the agriculture.
The Saturn is in a spheroid shape. The diameter of its equator is about 120, 000 km, that is 12. 9 times longer than that of the earth. The ratio between the radius of the Poles and the radius of the equator is 0. 912. The difference between their radius is almost the same as the length of the radius of the earth’ s equator. The mass of the Saturn is 95.18 times larger than that of the earth, and the volume 730 times larger. In spite of the large volume of the Saturn, its density is so small, only 0.7 g / cm cube.
The interior structures between the Saturn and the Jupiter is quite similar: both of them got a nucleus of rock, which are wrapped by the ice of 5, 000 km in depth and a crust of hydrogenous metals with a thickness of 8, 000 km. Also, the Saturn is rounded by a gleaming halo. The movement of the Saturn’ s atmosphere is not so severe and its surface temperature is not so high, only 140?.
The speed of the its revolution is 9.64 km / s. on average. The radius of the movement track is about 1.4 billion km. Its rotation is quite slow, about 29.5 years for each period. But its rotation is so fast, which is about 10 hrs. 14 min. along the equator.
The halo of the Saturn is formed by so many small materials and it rotates along the equator of the planet. The number of satellites around the Saturn is the largest in the solar system and they gather as if they were a family as the Jupiter does. Until now, we have observed 23 satellites around the Saturn and they show different patterns that many astronomers are attracted to do researches for it. The most famous one is the discovery of atmosphere in the ‘sixth satellites’, which is the only one satellite with atmosphere in the solar system.
The Uranus
The Uranus is the planet far away from the sun, the seventh planet from the sun. In the west, the planet is called ‘Uranus’, who was the first god in heaven ruling the space. Afterwards, he produced another god of heaven with the mother of the earth. Uranus tried every means to put the space in order. In Chinese, we use to call it ‘???’.
The Uranus is the spheroid in greenish blue. We can observe some sparkling light in greenish blue and some stripes which are not parallel to its equator. They may result from the flowing of the atmosphere caused by the fast rotation of the planet. The radius of the Uranus’ equator is about 25, 900 km and the volume is 65 times larger than that of the earth, the mass 14.63 times larger. Still, the density is small in the planet, only 1.24 g / cm cube. The elements in the atmosphere include hydrogen, helium and methane.
The track of the Uranus’ revolution is in an oval shape and its radius is about 2.9 billion km and the speed of the movement is 6.81 km / hr. The period of each revolution lasts for about 84 years. In the solar system, generally speaking, all planets follow the trajectory in which the rotation axes are perpendicular to the surface of revolution orbits. However, the situation in the Uranus is unique in this aspect. Its rotation axis is almost parallel to the surface of the revolution trajectory. Also, its surface of equator and the surface of the revolution track form an included angle of 97°55'. Therefore, it seems to be lying on the orbit. In this sense, people called it the ‘reverse world’.
The replacements of night and day as well as the seasons are quite complicated. The sun irradiates the North Pole, Equator, South Pole and then, equator one by one. Therefore, the completion of each day actually takes the Uranus 42 years. The summer will occur in the Pole where the sun shines. The sun will never fall. On the contrary, the Pole that is behind the sun is in its long winter and at its long night as well. Only along the 8°S and 8°N can we see the change of night and day.
The Uranus has its halo as the Jupiter does and the halo is a complicated one as well. It is formed by 20 smaller haloes and they are different in colour. Such discovery is a breakthrough in the history of astronomy that the Jupiter is not the only planet that has a halo in the solar system. There are 15 satellites around the Uranus and almost all of them are lying along the equator and moving around the planet.
The Neptune
The Neptune is the eighth planet from the sun after the Uranus. Its illumination is 7.85. We can only see it with the help of astronomical telescope. As this planet emits light blue rays, people in the west like to use the name from the Roman myths, Neptune, to name this planet. In Chinese, it is called ‘???’.
The radius of its radius is 24, 750 km, which is 3.88 times longer than that of the earth’s equator. The Neptune is also an oval spheroid, whose volume is 57 times larger than the earth’s volume and the mass 17.22 times larger. For the average density, it is 1.66 cm cube. In the solar system, the Neptune is the third largest planet, just smaller than the Jupiter and the Saturn. Nowadays, people believe that there is a nucleus in the Neptune, which is similar in size with the earth’s nucleus. The element of that nucleus is also rock, in which the temperature is as high as 2, 000 – 3, 000?. The nucleus is wrapped by a layer of ice. And then the outer layer is the atmosphere in which we can find hydrogen, methane as well as ammonia. In the Neptune, it is not uncommon for us to discover many severe cyclones, especially in the atmosphere.
The period of the Neptune’s rotation is 22 hrs. The angle between the equator and the surface of orbit is 28°48'. The shape of its orbit around the sun is like a circle. The included angle between the orbit surface and the ecliptic is extremely small, only 1°8'. It takes the Neptune 164.8 years to complete a period of revolution in a speed of 5.43 km / s. From 1846 to nowadays, the Neptune is still in the same period of revolution. The quarterly range of temperature between spring and winter in the Neptune is very small, compared with that of the earth. As the distance between the sun and the Neptune is extremely long (about 450, 000, 000 km, almost 30 times longer than the distance between the sun and the earth), the amount of radiation received by the surface of the Neptune is only 1/ 900 of that of the amount in the earth. The illumination in the daytime is only equal to the light emitted by a 100v bulb which is under 1, 000 m away from you. In this situation, the temperature on its surface is not so high, normally under 200?.
Until now, there have been 8 satellites around the Neptune observed by astronomers.
The Pluto
The distance between the Pluto and the sun is the longest one, 5.9 billion km, compared with other planets in the solar system. However, when it comes to the mass of the planets, the Pluto is the smallest one. In the west, the planet was named by the name of a person, Pluto, who was imprisoned in a dark gloomy jail. In Chinese, the name was translated as ‘???’.
The mass of the Pluto is 0.0024 times larger, compared with that of the earth, and 0.009 times larger than the latter. The diameter of the Pluto’s equator is 2, 400 km and the density of the planet is 1.5 g/ cm cube. It is the smallest planet in the solar system, which volume is even smaller that of the moon.
The radiation the Pluto acquired is not so much as it is far from the sun. Therefore, the surface temperature of the Pluto is not very high, probably –200? on average. Most substances on the planet have condensed into liquid and solid. The rest of the substances are hydrogen, helium as well as neon, which are all in gas status. Is this sense, even though there may be a layer of atmosphere in the Pluto, the layer is just a thin and transparent one.
The period of each revolution of the Pluto is 248 years. The trajectory of its revolution is also extraordinary, which is in a flat oval shape and the eccentric rate is 0.25. The maximum distance between the Pluto and the sun is 7.2 billion km, but the minimum is 4.3 billion km, which is even smaller than the distance between the Neptune and the sun. Moreover, apart from the Pluto, all the planets in the solar system are within the ecliptic. There is an angle of 17°. Therefore, the Pluto is sometimes moving above other planets and sometimes underneath them. The period of the Pluto’s rotation is quite long (6 days and 9 hrs.). Astronomers used the data of the satellite around the Pluto to calculate that the angle between the rotation axis and the revolution axis is 60°. In this sense, the Pluto is moving in a sideways revolution around the sun as the Uranus does.
The Pluto only has one satellite called ‘??’. The period of this satellite’s revolution is the same as that of the Pluto’s rotation (6.39 days). Therefore, this satellite is also called the ‘synchronous satellite’, also the sole one in the solar system. Therefore, if one stands on the Pluto, the satellite s/he sees may be a ‘static moon’. The diameter of ‘??’ is 850 km, which is equal to that of the Pluto. For the Pluto in such a ‘ small’ size, this satellite is really a big one.
Horoscopes
The Ursa Major
The above picture is the star chart of the Ursa Major and astronomers liked to conceive the pattern of the stars as a bear.
In fact, the same constellation will show different patterns in different regions in the world. The region above 40°N is Beijing and the North Greece where the Ursa Major can always be seen throughout the year. However, the Ursa Major will be in its most beautiful pattern in the sky of the North in every spring.
In ancient China, the pattern of this constellation is regarded as a scoop, which was actually formed by seven light stars. In Chinese, it was called ‘
????’. As you can see that the stars of the location?, ?, e form the handle of the scoop, and the a, ß, ?andd form the main body of the scoop. As a matter of fact, the pattern of the scoop is more significant than the bear in this constellation when we just have a glance to it. This ‘scoop’ is always hanging in the sky throughout the year. Moreover, the direction its handle points will change from season to season. As people said in the ancient time: ‘it is spring when the handle points to east; it is summer when the handle points to south; it is autumn when the handle points to west and it is winter when the handle points to North’. As calendar has not come into being at that time, the only way for people to guess the time is to rely on the location of the Ursa Major. Moreover, it can only be seen at 8 p.m. when the earth is rotating to the suitable time zone.
The Ursa Major is the constellation in the west that injects great vitality in the study of astronomy. In Chinese, we use the phrase ‘
????’ to say someone who faints and we can see how important this constellation is in the Chinese culture as it can represent all stars in the space by this saying. The astronomers in ancient China have given a particular name to each star of the Ursa Major. Also, the star a, ß, ?and d were generally called ‘?’, which is the so- called ‘???’, the god who are responsible for the inspection of examinations. In the era when imperial examination is popular, to get an outstanding results in the exam is the sole means for people from the poor to gain a position in the upper class. It is also very popular that the candidates will pray to the Ursa Major for success.
The second star from the end of the ‘handle’ is the star
?, which was known as ‘???’ in Classical Chinese. If we pay more attention to the Ursa Major, we will find an indistinct star beside it and this star is called the ‘Ursa Major No. 80’. People of ancient China thought that the Ursa Major No. 80 was very close to the ‘???’ as if the former one was the guard of the latter. Therefore, they also called the former star ‘?’, which meant the ‘assistant’.
The Ursa Minor
If we draw a line from the
ßand a of ‘mouth’ of the scoop, the Ursa Major, to another indistinct star which is five times further than their distance, we can see the stara of the Ursa Minor, also known as the ‘Cynosure’. In every year, no matter what direction the handle of the Ursa Major is pointing, the line between ßand a is always pointing to the Cynosure. Therefore, in Classical Chinese, these two stars were also known as the ‘???’, that meant these two stars are always facing the Cynosure.
The above picture is the star chart of the Ursa Minor.
If we draw some lines to link the light stars there together, we will find that the pattern of the constellation is like a small bear. More precisely, it is like a ‘small Dipper’. This Dipper is much smaller than the Big Dipper of the Ursa Major. Also, apart from the
a and ß, whose illumination is 2m, and the ?, with 3m, all the others are below 4m. This differs from the Big Dipper of the Ursa Major that the d, whose illumination is 3m, the other seven stars are just 2m stars. Therefore, people will not note this constellation apart from the Polaris.
The rotation axis of the earth is very stable and people like to use the axis as an index to indicate the location of the Polaris and the direction the axis points is where the Polaris exists. Therefore, people in ancient time used to adopt the Polaris to determine the direction in different aspects. For example, the voyage will always rely on the Polaris to indicate the direction. As the Polaris has such a great influence to the human beings, people adored this star very much and put it as the sign of the god in ancient China.
However, in fact, the Polaris is not wholly within the North Pole but has a deviation of 1°. It is regarded as the Polaris just because there is no star else which is closer than this star to the Pole. If we stand on the North Pole of the earth, this Polaris will be overhead. In any region on the North Hemisphere, people will see the Polaris seems to be motionless on the sky. Moreover, owing to the rotation and revolution of the earth, the constellations of the sky in the north will revolute around the Polaris once every day.
We can see the Ursa Major and the Ursa Minor throughout the year as they are very significant and is the index of the direction. Those who are beginners in astronomy should begin with these two constellations.
The Libra
The Libra is also the constellation within the zodiac. However, there are few stars in the Libra. The pattern of the balance is also hard to see. In fact, the Libra is the constellation that people always ignore. The four brightest 3m star of the Libra are
a, , ?and s that they form a quadrilateral. In spring, the ß and the ‘???’ form a rhombus that is a clue for you to find the Libra in the sky.
The Aries
At the time zone of 8- 9 p.m. in mid December every year, the Aries will be on stage. This constellation is a dark one and the two lightest stars
a and ß illumination are only 2.3 m and 2.7 m respectively. In autumn, the four stars of ??? and the Andromeda will form a frame and the straight line between the two stars in the north and then stretch the line to the distance 1.5 times longer than the line to the east. Finally, we can see this dark constellation.
The Aries is the constellation within the zodiac though it is not an eye- catching one. In this sense, the Aries still injects great vitality to the study of astronomy.
The Gemini
The Gemini is the last constellation in the ecliptic. If we stretch the line between the
a and ß of the??? to the north- east, the line will consequently touch another light stars. The illumination of the a and the ß are 1.97 and 1.14 respectively. Coincidentally, the two ‘bars’ of the stars of a (t, eandµ) and the ß( d, ? and ?) are almost parallel to each other. Therefore, people will like to treat them as two brothers, ??? and ?????.
The younger brother,
ß, was called ‘???’ in ancient China. Moreover, he was even brighter than his elder brother and ranked 17 th in illumination. Thea was called the‘???’in ancient China. They are also the first pair of stars recognized in the history of astronomy. Precisely speaking, the a of the Gemini is the same as the a of the Capricorn’s in nature, both are ???. Also, another coincidence is that the is also a ???. This shows that they seem like a pair of twins.
The Pisces
The Pisces is another constellation in the Zodiac. However, its illumination is even lower than the Capricornus, the lightest star of the Pisces is just a 4m star.
From the star chart, we can regard the stars in the south of the autumn quadrilateral as a fish (west fish). And the junction of the lines from the
ß of ??? and the a of the Andromeda of the quadrilateral to the east, there comes the north fish. Between these two fishes are the ‘V’ of the a that ties them up.
In the celestial sphere, there are two junctions between the zodiac and the astronomical equator. The Spring Equinox is one of the junctions that lies on the point where the zodiac passes through the south of the astronomical equator from west to east and finally reaches the north of the equator. This Spring Equinox is of paramount importance in the study of astronomy (see the introduction of the Libra). Now the this Spring Equinox is in the Pisces.
The Cancer
The Cancer is in the west of the Taurus and the north of the Hydra. The Cancer is the gloomiest constellation in the ecliptic. The lightest star in the Cancer is only 3.8m. The reason for the difficulty to recognize the pattern of the crab may be that the crab was smashed by
‘?????’with a cane. Therefore, it accompanies with the Hydra.
At the center of the Cancer, there is the star
d(or between the ???? and the ß of the Gemini). Around this area, there is a mass of ‘fog’. Actually, this mass is the stardust and is called the ‘honeycomb stardust’ in astronomy. There are about 200 stars in this stardust and they are 520 light- year.
The stardust is categorized into two families in astronomy. The first one is the ‘round stardust’ such as that in the
???. And the ‘honeycomb stardust’ belongs to another family called the ‘sparse stardust’. The pattern of this kind of stardust is not regular and the stars mostly disperse in the ??. There are over 1, 000 ‘sparse stardust’ discovered by astronomers up to now. They anticipate the amount of these kinds of stardust can reach 10, 000 or above.
The Taurus
In the north- east of the
???, there is a light star whose illumination is as high as 0.86m (13 th in the space). This star is the aof the Taurus and was called‘???’in ancient China.The Taurus is also the constellation in the zodiac.
??? is near the edge of the zodiac. The angle between the ??? , ???? of the Taurus, the ???and the four light stars of the ???’ s ???? is about 90°. Coincidentally, the a of the Taurus and the other three stars will appear by turns in different seasons. Therefore, they are also known as the ‘four kings in the zodiac’.
The most popular celestial bodies of the Taurus are two stardusts and one nebula.
One of the stardust is the
???, which is from the line 1.5 times longer than the distance between the ? of the ??? and the ??? in the northwest. People who have good eyesight will find it easy to see the seven stars of this stardust. In this sense, this stardust was given the name of ‘???’ in ancient China. ??? is about 417 light- year from the earth and the diameter of it is 13 light- years. Also, we can observe that there are more than 280 stars within the stardust with the help of a large astronomical telescope.
The other stardust is called
??? which is around the ??? but the latter does not belong to the former. ??? is about 147 light- year and is the furthest stardust to the earth. We can observe the 5- 6 stars just with our eyes. However, there are actually about 300 stars in the stardust.
Near the
? of the Taurus hangs the famous nebula. One astronomer in England named this nebula the ‘crab nebula’. Astronomers of this century inferred that this nebula came out as a result of a big explosion of a supernova in 1054.The Scorpio
In summer, when we looked at the sky at 8- 9 p.m., we will find there is a star which is not so bright in the south on the horizon. In fact, this star is the
a of the Scorpio. Since most of the stars at the low-attitude are not so bright, this star is very significant in the sky. Actually, it is not difficult to recognize the Scorpio if we can recognize its a .
The Scorpio is the most eye- catching constellation in summer. It is because it has a lot of light star and there are over 20 stars whose illumination are as high as 4m. The Scorpio is a large constellation and so is the number of light stars. In summer, the Scorpio is the most significant constellation as it is also within the zodiac. However, the Scorpio only occupied 7°of the zodiac and is the one constellation that passed the shortest distance through the zodiac compared with the other eleven constellation.
The above is the star chart of the Scorpio. In the sky, the pairs of claws and the tail with severe poison are very conspicuous and scaring.
Coincidentally, the
a is lying on the chest of the Scorpio. Therefore, this light star is also called the ‘heart of the Scorpio’. What is interesting is that the a was put on the heart of the 28 constellation and this star was thus called ‘???’ in ancient China. This shows how coincident it is between the east and west in astronomy.
As the
??? is flamboyant in color, the astronomers in ancient called it ‘??’.
The Aquarius
The Aquarius is the constellation where the line from the
ß and a of the??? stretch 1.5 times longer to the south and then the line reaches the dark star.
Though the Aquarius is in the zodiac, there is no light star in the constellation and the illumination of the lightest one is only 3m. Let’s have a look to the star chart! The pattern of the Aquarius is formed by the star
?, ?, f and ?. There seems to be top- quality wine exuding from the pot of the ?? and ?????.
There is usually two meteor showers every year in the Aquarius. The first one will appear in the early May, especially 5 May, when the scene will show around the
?. You know, this is the so- called ‘Halley’ s Comet’. The other one is in the mid July around the d and the scene will be the most spectacular one on 31 July.
One thing you may have to bear in mind is that the Neptune is within this constellation. The English astronomer, Adams, and the French astronomer,
???, adopted the gravity theory to infer the orbit of the Neptune. Afterwards, the German astronomer, ??, discovered the Neptune in the Aquarius on 23 September 1846.
The Leo
The Leo is one of the constellations in the ecliptic. In ancient Egypt, most people worshiped the Sphinx which was in fact the mixture of the body of the Leo and the face of the Virgo. The Leo was dubbed ‘
??’ in ancient China as the constellation is of great importance in the society.
From the Spring triangle, it is not difficult for us to find the
ß of the Leo. In the star chart, we can see that the tail of the lion is formed by the d, ? and ß. The sickle- like pattern is the head of the lion, which is formed by the eand a. If we draw a line from the ??? of the Ursa Major, and then stretch the line to the opposite side of the Polaris, the pattern can be found there. a is the lightest star in the Leo and its illumination is 1.35 m and it is the 21st brightest star in the space. In the ancient time, most voyagers had to resort to the a to determine the direction and so this star was also called the ‘star of the voyage’.
In every November, especially 14th and 15th, we will see the meteor shower in the
? of the Leo. It will be a large- scale one in every 33 years. As early as 931, such spectacular scenes were recorded by people. In 1833, the big explosion in the ? happened where the meteors exploded in the speed of 10, 000 pieces/ hr. Therefore, in the next night, one farmer thought that all the stars were falling.
There were so many meteor showers in the Leo in 1866. However, the number has dropped since 1899. The number was even lower in 1932 and 1965. We hope the Leo will return to be eye- catching by 1999.
The Virgo
When we link the
a and ? of the Big Dipper together, we can find the a of the Virgo from the distance 7- 8 times far away from the two stars. In ancient Greek, people liked to conceive the pattern of the Virgo as the god of farming who got wings on his back. He took a Whittier in his hand as he also harvested with the other farmers delightedly. The Virgo is the second largest constellation in the space. However, there is only one 0.9 m star, four 3m stars and the rest 4m stars. Therefore, the pattern of the Virgo is not so significant in the sky. In fact, we can simply put the stars of the Virgo as the letter ‘Y’.
But for the existence of the
a, the Virgo will be a gloomy constellation in the sky. This star is the 16th brightest star in the space. This star form the spring triangle with the Arcturus and the ß of the Leo. When we observe the stars in spring, we should find this triangle first as a help to find other constellations.
The Sagittarius
The Sagittarius is a constellation in the zodiac. In summer, we can find it in the south of the Altair of the Aquila. As the center of the Milky Way lies on the Sagittarius, this part is the brightest part in the galaxy.
This is the star chart of the Sagittarius. People in ancient Greek conceived the pattern of this constellation as
?? who took a bow and an arrow in his hand. The tip of the arrow was pointing at the Scorpio. As you can see in the chart that the six star (µ, ?, f, s, tand ?) formed an scoop. At the head of the scoop is ? and t which are in direction to the Altair. In ancient China we called these group of stars ‘??’. However, there is only one 2m star in the Sagittarius and the rest are all 3m or 4m stars. Therefore, the illumination of this constellation is not so high as that of the Big Dipper.
Since the Sagittarius is pointing at the center of the galaxy, there are many nebulas and stardusts in it. If we draw a line from the
s and ? to the west in a length 1 time longer, we can find there is nebula. Moreover, with a astronomical telescope, we can find that the nebula consists of 3 red faculas. In this sense, it also had another name – ‘3- leaf nebula’. There are also other nebulas in the Sagittarius. For example, in the north of the µ, there is a horse’s hoof- like nebula called the ‘horse’s hoof nebula’.