Last revised: 2026-10-18
9 · The five planets and planetary phenomena
| English | 中文 | Gloss | Termonline |
|---|---|---|---|
| the five planets | 五星／五纬Fundamentals · celestial bodies | The collective name for the five planets — Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus, Mercury — also called the five wefts. Calendars carried a section reckoning their places among the mansions. | near: 五星Astronomy · History of Astronomy |
| the Year Star (Jupiter) | 岁星Fundamentals · celestial bodies | The old name for Jupiter. It circles the sky in about twelve years, one station a year, and was therefore used to reckon years. | TermonlineAstronomy · History of Astronomy · 2024 |
| the Shimmering Deceiver (Mars) | 荧惑Fundamentals · celestial bodies | The old name for Mars. Faintly fiery, and the least regular of the five in its motion — direct or retrograde, fast or slow without a rule. | TermonlineAstronomy · History of Astronomy · 2024 |
| the Great White (Venus) | 太白Fundamentals · celestial bodies | The old name for Venus, the brightest of the five. Seen at dawn in the east it was Qiming; at dusk in the west, Changgeng. | TermonlineAstronomy · History of Astronomy · 2024 |
| the Chronal Star (Mercury) | 辰星Fundamentals · celestial bodies | The old name for Mercury. It keeps nearest the sun and is lost in the daylight for most of the year. | TermonlineAstronomy · History of Astronomy · 2024 |
| the Garrison Star (Saturn) | 镇星／填星Fundamentals · celestial bodies | The old name for Saturn. It takes about twenty-eight years to circle the sky and sits over one mansion a year, whence the name. | near: 镇星Astronomy · History of Astronomy |
| conjunction | 合Celestial phenomena · planetary phenomena | A planet standing at the same longitude as the sun, or two planets at the same longitude. At conjunction with the sun a planet is lost in its light. | TermonlineAstronomy · Celestial Mechanics · 2024 |
| opposition | 冲Celestial phenomena · planetary phenomena | A planet standing opposite the sun. It rises in the east as the sun sets and stays up all night; only the outer planets can come to it. | TermonlineAstronomy · Celestial Mechanics · 2024 |
| stationary point | 留Celestial phenomena · planetary phenomena | The point at which a planet, turning from direct to retrograde motion or back, seems for a while to stand still among the stars. | TermonlineAstronomy · Celestial Mechanics · 2024 |
| retrogradation | 逆行Celestial phenomena · planetary phenomena | A planet’s apparent motion from east to west. Direct motion eastward, retrograde westward; the two alternate in turn. | TermonlineAstronomy · Celestial Mechanics · 2024 |
| disappearance in the sun’s light | 伏Celestial phenomena · planetary phenomena | A planet drawing near the sun and vanishing into its light. Its reappearance is the heliacal rising. | TermonlineAstronomy · History of Astronomy · 2024 |
| encroachment | 犯Celestial phenomena · planetary phenomena | A planet or the moon coming so near a star as to encroach on it — among the commonest entries in the astronomical chapters of the histories. | — |
| prolonged stay | 守Celestial phenomena · planetary phenomena | A planet lingering long within one group of stars. With encroachment, the usual way the histories record a planet’s course. | TermonlineAstronomy · History of Astronomy · 2024 |
← Previous: 8 · The calendar in use ｜ Index ｜ Next: 10 · The three enclosures and the circumpolar sky