Stellarium
Update Request for Korean and Japanese Skycultures
I hope to see updates to the Korean and Japanese skycultures in Stellarium.
I've noticed that the Korean and Japanese skycultures in Stellarium haven't been updated for a long time. From previous issues, it appears there have been difficulties contacting the original authors.
I have independently created both Korean and Japanese skyculture packages:
Korean: Over 300 constellations based on the Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido (天象列次分野之圖 / Chart of the Arrayed Stars and Constellations). Japanese: Nearly 400 constellations based on the Yasui Star Map (保井星図). These align with the sources currently used in Stellarium's existing skycultures. I'd like to contribute my versions to improve the official packages.
However, translation accuracy may be an issue. As a native Chinese speaker with basic Japanese/Korean knowledge, I cannot confidently write native constellation names in Hangul (한글) or Kana (仮名). Professional proofreading by fluent speakers is likely needed.
Additionally, I recall previous discussions about English translations for constellation names. Since Chinese, Japanese, and Korean constellations share identical Hanzi/Kanji/漢字 names, wouldn’t it be more consistent to use a unified English translation system for all three?
The skycultures in the picture is still the old version. I have converted it to the new version using the converter and am currently checking for problems.
Thank you, this sounds interesting. Indeed we (code developers) have no certified knowledge of these names and correct translation, and probably yes, there should be a common canonical translation scheme. @sushoff can you or your colleagues/collaborators in China provide such certified/standardized translations?
The constellations of China, Japan, and Korea largely evolved from a common origin, and the meanings of the same Chinese characters remain consistent. Therefore, using uniform translations is the best approach. The only differences lie in pronunciation, as Japan and Korea have their own distinct pronunciations.
