Hydrus in Chinese astronomy

The modern constellation Hydrus is not included in the Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Mansions system of traditional Chinese uranography because its stars are too far south for observers in China to know about them prior to the introduction of Western star charts. Based on the work of Xu Guangqi and the German Jesuit missionary Johann Adam Schall von Bell in the late Ming Dynasty,^[1] this constellation has been classified under the 23 Southern Asterisms (近南極星區, Jìnnánjíxīngōu) with the names Snake's Tail (蛇尾, Shéwěi), Snake's Abdomen (蛇腹, Shéfù), Snake's Head (蛇首, Shéshǒu) and White Patched Nearby (附白, Fùbái).

The name of the western constellation in modern Chinese is 水蛇座 (shuǐ shé zuò), which means "the water snake constellation."

Stars edit

The map of Chinese constellation in constellation Hydrus area consists of:

Four Symbols	Mansion (Chinese name)	Romanization	Translation	Asterisms (Chinese name)	Romanization	Translation	Western star name	Chinese star name	Romanization	Translation
-	近南極星區 (non-mansions)	Jìnnánjíxīngōu (non-mansions)	The Southern Asterisms (non-mansions)
				蛇尾	Shéwěi	Snake's Tail	β Hyi^[2]	蛇尾一	Shéwěiyī	1st star
				蛇腹	Shéfù	Snake's Abdomen
							ζ Hyi^[2]	蛇腹一	Shéfùyī	1st star
							ε Hyi^[2]	蛇腹二	Shéfùèr	2nd star
							δ Hyi^[2]	蛇腹三	Shéfùsān	3rd star
							η² Hyi^[2]	蛇腹四	Shéfùsì	4th star
				蛇首	Shéshǒu	Snake's Head	α Hyi^[2]	蛇尾一	Shéshǒuyī	1st star
				附白	Fùbái	White Patched Nearby
							γ Hyi^[2]	附白一	Fùbáiyī	1st star
							κ Hyi^[2]	附白二	Fùbáièr	2nd star