Flying Serpent (''Tengshe'' 螣蛇) is an asterism (name for a group of stars) in the constellation "

Encampment Camp may refer to: Areas of confinement, imprisonment, or for execution * Concentration camp, an internment camp for political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or minority ethnic groups * Extermination ...

" (''Shixiu'' 室宿) in the

Chinese constellation Traditional Chinese astronomy has a system of dividing the celestial sphere into asterisms or constellations, known as "officials" ( Chinese ''xīng guān''). The Chinese asterisms are generally smaller than the constellations of Hellenisti ...

system. It is named after the mythological serpent, '' tengshe''. The ''Tengshe'' asterism was a group of "22 stars, occurring in the northern

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

of the "Encampment" () constellation, epresenting; or comprising the figure ofthe Heavenly Snake, chief of the water reptiles", according to the treatise on astronomy in the ''Book of Jin'' (''

Jin Shu The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, with chancellor Fang X ...

''). Tengshe coincides with the lizard constellation

Lacerta Lacerta is one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. Its name is Latin for lizard. A small, faint constellation, it was defined in 1687 by the astronomer Johannes Hevelius. Its brightest stars form a "W" ...

, and the northern parts of Lacerta occupy the center of Tengshe. The identification of stars in Tengshe has changed over time. Before the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, the main star of the asterism was V424 Lacertae, which has been named Tengshe by the

IAU Working Group on Star Names The International Astronomical Union (IAU) established a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) in May 2016 to catalog and standardize proper names for stars for the international astronomical community. It operates under Division C – Education ...

. Later,

Alpha Lacertae Alpha Lacertae, Latinised from α Lacertae, also named Stellio, is a single white-hued star in the constellation of Lacerta, located 103 light-years from the Sun. It is the brightest star in Lacerta with an apparent visua ...

was identified as the main star of Tengshe.

References

Chinese constellations {{China-stub