Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Ancient Chinese Astronomy - Unveil the mysteries Kai Cai Oct.4, 2002 Chinese Astronomy • Calendars /Almanac: near 100 almanacs • Constellation system • Records of conspicuous events: guest stars, sunspots, eclipses, etc… • Instruments Constellation System • 28 xu: “lodges” of Sun, moon, planets – Near ecliptic and celestial equator – East: (grey) dragon, West: (white) tiger, North: (black) tortoise &snake, South: (red) Phoenix • 3 yuan: 3 sky regions around Polaris • Archeology: 4 patterns appeared in early Han dynasty (no later than 100 BC). • Star catalog (270AD by Chen Zhuo): 1464 stars in total, 283 “constellations” (groups of stars). Astrology • Ancient Astronomy: study of 天 (heaven) • Sky patterns predict major political and military events – signs of the heaven – Often ominous • • • • Astronomy forbidden in public Constellations – areas/provinces Configurations of planets Comets, other events Royal astronomers and Observatories • Royal astronomers: might not be interested in astronomy • Tasks: take records of events; compile star charts; Edit calendars /almanac; instrument maintenance… • Main contents of the almanacs: motions of the Sun, moon and five planets • Often got killed during dynasty change • Famous astronomers: lunar craters – e,.g. see: http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/science/atlas/text/crate rtex_c.html for Chang Heng Systematic records of events • Halley’s Comet: – Earliest: 613 BC by Zuo Zhuan – Complete record thru 1910 (29 times) • Eclipses • Sunspots • Novae & SNe : e.g.Crab A drawing of Han dynasty http://dbs.bao.ac.cn/cas/pic/old3.gif Theories: cosmological models • Mainly relation between heaven and Earth • Huntian (天) : Sky and Earth are like an egg -- by Zhang Heng, later become the standard • Gai (cover) 天 : Sky is round, Earth is a square (cube) • Xuan Ye: all celestial objects are floating in empty space • Description/Computation: algebraic approach, no geometry Cross-cultural Communications • Early: Indian Astronomy (came with Buddhism) – The beginning of (personal) astrology (horoscope) • Islamic astronomers: came to China late 13th century (~1300AD) • Western Astronomy input: around ~1600s • Qing dynasty: calendar completely based on western astronomy Instruments • Hun Yi (armilla): invented in Han dynasty (~104 BC); used to measure coordinates of astronomical objects • Abridged armilla (early 14th century): by Guo Shoujing • Bronze shadow scale: determine winter solstice, length of a year, etc. • Poly-vascular inflow clepsydra: a timekeeping device • Huntian Yi: to simulate the sky pattern Pictures • 28 xu: http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/e_book/hi story_c/images/constel_28.jpg • Su Zhou Star chart (planisphere): – http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/e_book/ history_c/images/soocho_star_map.jpg • Famous astronomers: http://dbs.bao.ac.cn/cas/pic/stamp.gif • Instruments: see http://dbs.bao.ac.cn/cas/chi.html (some) Some useful references • http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200111/27 /1127109.htm • http://web.syr.edu/~bjing/calendar.htm • http://www.scivis.com/AC/hist/chinacity.html • http://homepages.primex.co.uk/~sproston/ssta r9.htm • History of China: Chronology – See http://www.chinatoday.com/history/history.htm