Chinese constellations and star maps

Abstract

Star observations can be traced back to as early as the twenty-third century BC in ancient China. By the fifth century BC, the Chinese had named the 28 asterisms that formed the basic reference points for the Chinese equatorial coordinate system. By the first century BC, the Chinese had developed a unique system of constellations that reflected Chinese cosmological ideas with the central theme of the correlation between Heaven and Man. Star charts have been discovered on tomb ceilings dating back to Han times. But most of them are illustrative in their presentation of stars. The Dunhuang star maps from the ninth century, the star maps in the xin yixiang fa yao of the eleventh century, and the Suzhou Astronomical Planisphere of the thirteenth century are examples of precise star maps from ancient China.