Monday, April 21, 2014

4700 years ago the Nobleman star 天乙贵人 has been a North Pole star

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The Nobleman star 天乙贵人 (Celestial Great One 天乙星) is one of the most auspicious stars in Chinese metaphysics. Generally it is believed that it brings good luck and blessings and transforms all obstacles and negativity in life. The famous classic San Ming Tong Hui 《三命通会》 says: "The Nobleman star is the spirit of Heaven... Its spirit is the most respected and wherever it reaches, all evil hides away".  The Nobleman star is a real star on the sky and... surprise!... 4700 years ago it has been the North Pole star! (together with another star - Thuban)

How is this possible? - one would ask. Well, it takes 25,800 years (one Platonic year) for the Earth’s axis to complete one clockwise circle. This causes the line of the North Pole to scribe a circle, thus our North Pole star changes with the time.
 


The current North Pole star is Polaris
勾陳一, the next one will be Al Deramin (around 7500 A.D.). Then, as the precession continues, Deneb 天津四, Vega 织女星, Thuban (Alpha Dragonis) 右樞 and Kochab 北極二 will also become North Pole stars, like they have been already thousands of years ago.
  

Thuban  (α Draconis) of constellation Draco was the North Pole star in and around 2700 BC. The red dot on the map below shows the current location of Thuban on the sky:
Celestial Map showing the constellation Draco. Image credit: Torsten Bronger.

In Chinese astronomy Thuban star is known as 右樞 (You Shu "Right Pivot") and it is located at
Zi Wei Right Enclosure (Zi Wei You Heng 紫微右垣). Just next to it is the Celestial Great One 天乙星 (Nobleman star 天乙贵人 Tian Yi Gui Ren).


In modern astronomy, both Thuban and Nobleman star (天乙贵人) are part of the constellation Draco. Thuban is Alpha Dragonis; Nobleman star is 10 Dragonis (also named CU Dragonis).


Prof. Jim Kaler, a respected astronomer and science writer from University of Illinois,  points out that during the time when Thuban was the pole star around 2700 BC, there were actually TWO pole stars - Thuban and 10 Draconis (the Nobleman star 天乙贵人):
"Indeed, there were not one, but TWO pole stars, though the other one, fifth magnitude (4.64) 10 Draconis, which lies just 1.4 degrees to the west of Thuban, is never mentioned alongside its far better known neighbor. And too bad, as of the two it may be the more interesting. If not, it certainly is the more colorful, a red giant that through binoculars or a wide field telescope contrasts very nicely with white Thuban... From a distance of 390 light years 10 Draconis shines with the light of 840 Suns, though the great majority of the radiation lies in the invisible infrared part of the spectrum."
This is so amazing to have had one of the most auspicious stars as the North Pole star, powerfully shining with the light of 840 suns! Even if its radiation is invisible, the beneficial effect of the Nobleman (Celestial Great One) star still reaches all of us.