What are the names and meanings of the stars in the Big Dipper?

The Big Dipper is Shu Tian, Tian Xuan, Celestial Pole, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang and Yaoguang in the constellation Ursa major. People in ancient China associated these seven stars and imagined them as barrels of wine in ancient times.

Legend has it that every star in the Big Dipper has its own meaning. Starting from the handle, the first star is the star of strength, the second is the star of wisdom, the third is the star of courage, the fourth represents love, the fifth is the star of happiness, the sixth is the star of disaster, and the seventh represents rebirth after robbery.

The Big Dipper appears in different directions in the sky at different seasons and different times at night, so the ancients decided the seasons according to the direction pointed by bucket handle at the beginning of fainting: bucket handle points to the east, and the world is spring; Guide to barrel handle, it's summer in the world; Bucket handle refers to the west, and the world is autumn; The barrel handle refers to the north, and it is winter all over the world.

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People in ancient China associated these seven stars and imagined them as barrels of wine in ancient times. Shu Tian, Tian Xuan, Tian Ji and Tianquan are composed of Dou Shen and Gu Yue Kui. Yuheng, Kaiyang and Yaoguang are composed of bucket handle, which was called Piao in ancient times.

The Big Dipper is named α, β, γ, δ, ε, ζ and η respectively from the upper end of the bucket to the end of bucket handle. Ancient astronomers in China called them Shu Tian, Tian Xuan, Celestial Pole, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang and Ursa Major respectively.

A straight line from Tian Xuan runs through Shu Tian, which is about five times as long as it. You can see a star as bright as the Big Dipper, which is the North Star.

Taoism calls the Big Dipper the Seven-Yuan Xie Hexing King, who lives in the Seven Palaces of the Big Dipper, namely: Shutiangong Wolf-Greedy Star King, Tian Xuan Palace Giant Gate Star King, Tianji Palace Lucun Star King, Tianquan Palace Wenqu Star King, Yuheng Palace Lian Zhen Star King, Kaiyang Palace Wuqu Star King, and Eta Ursa Palace Broken Army Star King.

The Big Dipper is a part of Ursa major. Graphically, the Big Dipper is located at the tail of Ursa Major. Six of these seven stars are secondary stars, and 1 is tertiary. Through the connection of the two stars in the mouth of the bucket, it extends about 5 times in the direction of the mouth of the bucket and finds the Polaris.

"Star Recognition Song" has: "Star recognition begins with Beidou, and then begins from north to west." Beginners can look for other constellations in turn from the Big Dipper. The seven stars of Ursa Major are arranged in the shape of a spoon. The ancients attached great importance to Beidou because it can be used to identify the direction and set the season.

Shu Tian, Tian Xuan, Tianji and Tian Quan are the four stars that make up the Big Dipper, and the three stars with handles are Yuheng, Kaiyang and Yaoguang respectively. The star in the center of the ladle handle is called Kaiyang, and there is a fourth-order companion star called auxiliary star at the distance of 1 1. Kaiyang and the auxiliary star form an optical binary star, which can be recognized by naked eyes. Kaiyang and auxiliary stars are also the only physical binary stars visible to the naked eye all day.

The Big Dipper is also called "Beidou" for short. Seven bright stars arranged in a barrel not far from the north celestial pole. Except delta, which is a third-class star, the other six stars are second-class.

Polaris can be found by connecting the first two stars of the Big Dipper and extending it to the mouth of the Big Dipper for about five times, which is usually used as a sign to indicate the direction and identify the constellation. In addition, according to the bucket handle curve of the Big Dipper, after drawing an arc, you will meet arcturus, which is one of the 2 1 bright stars, that is, the alpha star of the constellation Capricorn.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Big Dipper