Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional festivals - Is the Big Dipper in the Milky Way? What is the star that symbolizes the highest position in China's history? Is there a unique way of naming galaxies in China culture?

Is the Big Dipper in the Milky Way? What is the star that symbolizes the highest position in China's history? Is there a unique way of naming galaxies in China culture?

The distance from the Big Dipper to the Earth is about several hundred thousand light years to more than one hundred light years, so it must be in the Milky Way. To tell the truth, most of the stars we can see with the naked eye are in the Milky Way.

The highest-ranking star in China's traditional culture is the Polaris surrounded by the Big Dipper, which was also called Ziweixing in ancient China.

Ancient astronomy in China was extremely developed. Most of the stars visible to the naked eye in the sky were named according to astronomical phenomena, five lines of gossip and other algorithms, as well as ancient Taoism and traditional customs. For example, the Chinese names of the Big Dipper are: Shu Tian, Tian Xuan, Tianji, Tian Quan, Yuheng, Kaiyang and Yaoguang.