Chinese Astronomical Terms

I am a Chinese by race but I do not pride myself as one because I find myself lacking in the language. Growing up in Singapore, Mandarin is not used as a main language to communicate. We have adopted English to be our main business language. I wouldn't dare say that I am highly proficient with English either, but I am calling a spade, a spade. So, I am at least an English literate.

As a stargazer who often does public outreach sessions, I feel a little disappointed and dejected when I can't communicate the science or even introduce some of the objects that we see in the night sky in basic Mandarin to our older Singaporean folks and to the Chinese migrant workers from The Peoples' Republic of China who were only literate in Chinese. I sometimes get the dirty look from them, too. They must be thinking, "Why does this Chinese dude not know how to speak Mandarin?"

Therefore, I have decided to draw some time to learn some basic astronomical terms in Chinese to communicate to this group of people in future public outreach sessions.

It's fascinating how the 5 planets that can be seen by the naked eye were named after the 5 important Chinese elements - Mercury (water), Venus (gold), Mars (fire), Jupiter (wood), Saturn (soil). 

Some additional words to learn:      

Comet - 彗星Huìxīng

Constellation - 星座 Xīngzuò
Siruis - 天狼星 Tiān láng xīng

Canis Major - 大犬座 Dà quǎn zuò

Taurus - 金牛座 Jīnniúzuò 

Orion - 猎户座 Lièhùzuò

Nebula - 星云 Xīngyún

Star cluster - 星团 Xīngtuán

Planets - 行星 Xíngxīng

The Seven Sisters (Pleiades) - 七姊妹 Qī zǐmèi  

Orbit - 轨道 Guǐdào

Asteroid impact - 小行星撞击 Xiǎo xíngxīng zhuàngjí

Moon's surface - 月球表面 Yuèqiú biǎomiàn

Craters - 陨石坑 Yǔnshí kēng

Meteor - 流星 Liúxīng

Meteorite - 陨石 Yǔnshí
Gravity - 重力 Zhònglì
Solar System - 太阳系 Tàiyáng xì
Galaxy - 星系 Xīngxì
Milky Way - 银河系 Yínhéxì 

I shall add more words and expand this list when anything comes to mind.