For China, the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper are as deeply rooted in the hearts of the people as the moon, counting the poems about the moon left by China from ancient times to the present, in the literary language, ancient poems, and modern poems, there are no less than 20,000 verses containing the moon, and the folklore is innumerable. It can be seen how deep Chinese's unique feelings for the moon are.
The Big Dipper seven stars photographed in the starry sky
But did you know that in Chinese astronomy, there is a group of distant stars that are also deeply rooted in people's hearts and widely praised, that is, the seven stars of the Big Dipper. The story of the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper is even more dazzling, from the Ancient God Emperor to the romantic love in the world, there is a figure of the Big Dipper. Modern China has named the GLOBAL POSITIONING System Beidou, expressing the respect and exploration of the Chinese people for the legend of Beidou. Do you know what their names are in the Big Dipper and where they are located?
Celestial Hub
Tianshu, the second brightest of the Big Dipper, is about 123 light-years away from Earth, and is the farthest of the Big Dipper stars. In ancient times, the North Star represented the Emperor of Heaven and was a symbol of power, and the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper were also discovered early to give a special meaning, because the Hub was closest to the North Star, so it was destined to be the Celestial Hub, and he also had a very vivid name - Sirius.
Tianxuan
Tianxuan, the β star in ursa majority, is the second star at the mouth of the big dipper, about 80 light-years from Earth, more massive than the Sun. In ancient times, Tianxuan represented "the key in heaven" and had an extremely high status. In the era of developed divination in ancient times, due to its large size, Tianxuan was also known as the Giant Gate Star. Unfortunately, its internal hydrogen fuel has been exhausted and is in the process of cooling.
Heaven forbid
Tianji, the sixth brightest of the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper, is about 83 light-years away from Earth, and its brightness, temperature, and volume are beyond the Milky Way's Sun, which has a companion star that is always relatively opposite, belonging to the binary star system. In the ancient era when nature worship was prevalent, Tianji was given the meaning of wealth, so it was also called Lu Cunxing.
Heavenly power
Celestial Power, the δ star in ursa majority, the fourth star at the mouth of the Big Dipper, and the darkest of them, is about 80.5 light-years away from Earth. Main sequence stars that exceed the volume and mass of the Sun. The brightness is the darkest, but in ancient times, it was named Tianquan, also known as Wenqu Xing, which represents the extraordinary literary strength of the literati.
Yuheng
Yuheng, ε Ursa Major, is the brightest of the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper, the 31st brightest star in the sky, and the third star at the handle of the Spoon in the Big Dipper. It is about 83 light-years from Earth, and because of its relative brightness, it is one of the most commonly used navigation stars during navigation. Ancient kings usually used "heng" to represent it, because it was the brightest, so it got the name of Yuheng, and it also had the name of a lianzhen star.
Kaiyang
Kaiyang, a star in the constellation Ursa Major, is the first star at the handle of the Big Dipper, about 78 light-years from Earth. Unlike the other stars of the Big Dipper, it has a "double star" system that is visible to the naked eye, and the naked eye can see a companion star of Kaiyang Zengyi (adjunct, 80 Ursa Major) directly to the east. Kaiyang, also known as Wuqu Star in ancient times, is the opposite of Wenqu Star.
Shake the light
Shake light, the seventh of the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper, is located at the end of the spoon handle. Dazzling blue-white, also known as the Broken Army Star in ancient times, is 104 light-years away from Earth. Although it is 6 times the mass of the Sun and 3.4 times the radius, it is only 10 million years old.
The nearest of the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper to the Earth has also reached 78 light-years, and at the current speed of human navigation, it is temporarily impossible to reach the vicinity of the Big Dipper, but in the future, it should still be possible to learn to sail in curves, dozens of times the speed of light. But what is needed is no longer materials science and general physics, but some more mysterious theoretical system, looking forward to the arrival of that day.