The Chinese Sky

[Yamabuki]

My first post here.

In the Chinese system, the "zodiac" is 28 houses (mansions) and they aren't of equal size. Is there some setting so I can adjust the houses? I looked, but so far have not seen a way to do this?

Kate

The house widths are determined by the reference constellations which are Chinese. Some are very narrow.

[Jean]

Welcome Kate,
Planetdance uses the swiss ephemeris for calculations, results are in longitudes from 0 to 360, mostly translated to 12 signs of 30 degrees.
There are no methods for other divisions. That would have to be programmed, and it would need the data how to divide the circle.
And i'm confused, you say the zodiac is 28 houses but then you talk about the housesystem. Do you want another zodiac or another housesystem?

[ABer]

Hi Kate - thanks for your interest in Planetdance. This form of astrology would make an interesting addition to the software.

All the best. Ed

[Yamabuki]

Thank you for the prompt replies!

The ancient Chinese imagined very different constellations. Not to get too technical. Some constellations occupied a large swath. Others occupied a much smaller swath. When seen from Earth, this means the arcs varied.

I am using the Nakshatras chart and then using a protractor, ruler, and pencil, I draw in the houses.

Are you able to see my two attachments? I can give you the URL links so you can open them on the web. The blue one, if you look at the origin, shows "pie slices" of different widths, These are the ones I draw by hand on a 11x17 print out I do by hand.

The beige attachment shows the constellations as the Chinese saw them.

I won't get into the weeds just yet. Suffice that, at least as I understand it, the Chinese Zodiac has 28 mansions (houses) and the Nakshatras recognizes them, but the angles are drawn equal at the origin, whereas the blue wheel (attachment) has the ones the Chinese used.
 
Thank you again for the fast response.

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addendum: The ancient Chinese catalogued 5000 objects, tracked Haley's comet fly-bys for centuries, and knew Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, and might have some inkling of Saturn.

[ABer]

Hi - thanks for the picture. In theory this isn't difficult to do. We would just need the longitudes of the cusps of the divisions. This could then be an option within Planetdance, or part of a separate module. The Vedic Nakshastras have glyphs/images. Without these, the different mansions would have to be identified with numbers of brief codes. Are the mansions tropical or sidereal?

Ed

[Jean]

Hi Kate,

Ed is right, we are programmers, we need numbers, the divisions in longitude.
And some names or something, maybe even glyphs or something?

[Yamabuki]

I'm on it. Give me a couple days. Should I post the info and links in this thread?

[Jean]

Sure, why not. Take it easy.

[ABer]

Thanks Kate - no rush. Ed