The 28 lunar mansions

How the three traditions line up

India and China also divide the Moon's path into mansions: the nakshatras and the xiu. Each page pairs a manzil with the nakshatra and the xiu that use the same stars, or the neighbouring stars where they differ.

• Nakshatra. Paired in sequence on the older list of 28, which includes Abhijit between Uttara Ashadha and Shravana. The dial's ring uses the list of 27, each 13°20′ wide, so each page also says which of those 27 the sector covers.
• Xiu. Paired by shared stars. Spica opens the Chinese sequence as Jiao 角, so mansion 14 pairs with xiu 1. The xiu are measured in right ascension from their determinative stars, which makes their widths uneven.
• ◆ same stars, ◇ neighbouring stars. Marked on each card and page.
• Sectors and stars. The star groups were never evenly spaced, so an equal 12°51′ grid does not fit them exactly. The stars of mansions 8, 17 and 28 lie wholly in the next sector; those of 2, 6, 13, 15, 20, 26 and 27 lie partly outside their own. Each page gives the lead star's sidereal position.

Sources

• Agrippa, H. C., Three Books of Occult Philosophy, tr. J. F. (London, 1651), Book II, ch. 33. Quoted verbatim.
• Kunitzsch, P. & Smart, T., A Dictionary of Modern Star Names (2006). Arabic names, meanings and star identifications.
• SIMBAD Astronomical Database, CDS Strasbourg. Star positions, propagated by proper motion and precessed to 21 October 2026 (Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, ch. 21–22).
• Hoffleit & Warren, Yale Bright Star Catalogue, 5th rev. ed. (1991). The dial's star positions.
• Sun Xiaochun & Kistemaker, J., The Chinese Sky during the Han (1997). Xiu determinatives and lore.
• Shijing, Xiao Ya, 漸漸之石, on the Moon in the Net (mansion 4).

The Moon times on these pages come from the same ephemeris as the dial. Related terms are in the glossary.