Sky Cultures · 4 of 7
The Moon's Houses
How long does the Moon take to come back to the same star?
India, China and Arabia each split the Moon's road into 27 or 28 stations — and each drew its own figure on the same V of stars in Taurus.
You’ll be able to follow the Moon’s road through its stations, and read the Hyades three ways.
Before this: Why the Sky Moves (8 min), The Moon's Month (6 min)
Where and which night
Working out when this is best placed from where you are…
Where
Kept for this guide only, until you change it here — your map settings, and every other guide, stay as they are.
Print, play outside or present
Scan with a phone's camera, or open
Sources
- HYG stellar database v4.2 — star positions, magnitudes and every separation quoted here
- Plofker, Mathematics in India (Princeton, 2009), ch. 2 — the nakshatras and the Vedic calendar
- Taittiriya Samhita 2.3.5 — Soma, the daughters of Prajapati, and Rohini
- Mahabharata, Shalya Parva — Soma, the 27 daughters of Daksha, and the curse of the waning Moon
- Mahabharata, Vana Parva, the birth of Skanda — the Seven Sages, their wives and the Krittikas
- Shijing, Minor Odes, "Jian jian zhi shi" — the Moon in the Net brings rain
- Varisco, "The Origin of the anwāʾ in Arab Tradition", Studia Islamica 74, 5 (1991)
- Kunitzsch & Smart, A Dictionary of Modern Star Names (Sky Publishing, 2006) — the Arabic mansions behind our star names
- Oldenberg (tr.), The Grihya-sûtras, Part I, Sacred Books of the East 29 (1886), p. 170 — Âsvalâyana Grihya-sûtra I, 7, 22: on her wedding night the bride, seeing the polar star, Arundhatî and the seven Rishis, breaks her silence
With a keyboard, focus the sky, aim it with the up and down arrow keys, and press Enter to drop the pin at the centre of the view; or press Show me.