Later, recordings of solar eclipses begun in the 3 rd century BC and of lunar eclipses begun in the 5 th century BC continued all the way to contemporary times. While Western astronomers of the Renaissance period were still arguing in who was the first to discover sunspots, Chinese astronomers had already accumulated a large amount of records on sunspots.
Now it is known that the earliest records of sunspots were made in 28 BC by Chinese astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of the Western Han Dynasty.
From then until the late Ming Dynasty in the midth century, Chinese history books recorded more than sunspots. Furthermore, they also took note of other phenomena concerning the sun, such as solar prominences and coronas.
The first record of a solar prominence has been found in a tortoise shell inscription, which describes "three suddenly bursting fires eating a chunk of the sun". According to statistics, sunspots occur in a cycle every China also compiled a huge amount of records on meteoric showers. This is the first mention in the world of a meteoric shower.
Meteorites, both of iron and of stone, often fall to the earth, and this was noticed by the ancient Chinese. Song Yingxing, a scientist of the late Ming period, once said, "When stars fall to the earth, they become stones. During the Spring and Autumn Period, some 2, years ago, Chinese documents already had entries on what later came to be known as Halley's Comet.
The record of the comet, which appeared in BC, in Spring and Autumn Annals is recognized as the earliest mention of Halley's Comet in the world. Since Halley's Comet visits the earth once every 76 years, it came back to the earth 29 times during a period of 2, years from BC the 7 th year of the reign of the First Emperor of Qin to the 2 nd year of the reign of Emperor Xuantong of Qing.
Each of these visits was clearly recorded by Chinese scholars. Hind, an astronomer from the West, once used these continuous data to calculate the orbit of Halley's Comet, and discovered that the angle of the orbit showed a narrowing trend.
In the Han Dynasty, it was degrees, but it narrowed down to degrees in the midth century. In BC, Chinese astronomers pointed out that the comet always traveled with its back to the sun. Without these repeated observations, the detailed descriptions of the comet tails could not have been made, nor could the relationship between the sun and comets have been correctly deduced.
The scientific and technological achievements of the Warring States Period BC are very impressive. The various feudal states all had their own court astronomers. The most famous among them -- Gan De of the State of Chu and Shi Shen of the State of Wei -- together wrote The Gan and Shi Book of the Stars , which accurately record the positions of stars, constituting the world's earliest star chart. The lid of a lacquer chest of the Warring States Period unearthed in Suizhou, Hebei Province, has a list of the 28 constellations, China's earliest record of the entire list of the constellations.
Novas and supernovas are all variable stars created by nova outbursts. During an outburst, the brightness of a nova may increase during a matter of a few days by several thousand or even dozens of thousands of times.
Then it will gradually dim, to eventually return to its original brightness after several or dozens of years. Outbursts of supernovas are on an even grander scale, increasing their brightness by up to hundreds of millions of times.
There are more than 50 reliable records of novas made in ancient China, in addition to over a dozen cases of supernovas. The first record of a nova dates from BC in China, in a tortoise shell inscription, which reads as follows: "On the 7 th day of a certain month, a new star appeared next to 'Heart Constellation II'. Among them the supernova discovered in was the first to be confirmed by modern radio astronomers.
In , a British astronomer discovered an oblong spot of fog over China. After observation, calculation and analysis by several astronomers, it was proved that the crab-shaped nebula found in this position was the ruins of a supernova that had shot out of a dense cluster some years previously, i. This discovery was one of the most significant astronomical findings in the s. Enormous amounts of records in ancient China on happenings of the stars, comparatively, were most accurate and complete in the world.
In terms of data, they held the highest rate of application. It is entirely beyond the imagination of ancient astronomers that their records could serve modern scientific studies. In future along with further developments in science, these ancient records may well prove to be of even greater values. The period from the 3 rd to the 6 th centuries was an important stage in the development of culture and science in China, as many outstanding scientists emerged.
Zu Chongzhi made outstanding contributions to mathematics, astronomy and machine building. He was the first person in the world to bring the calculation of the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter to the seventh decimal place, between 3. His achievement was more than a thousand years earlier than that of his European counterparts. Zu put dozens of his writings on mathematics into a book titled The Art of Mending, which represented the highest achievements in the realm of mathematics at that time.
In astronomy, the Daming Calendar he worked out was China's most advanced calendar of his era. After observations and studies, he concluded that a year lasted exactly In machine building, records suggested that he made improvements to a compass device for carriages, built a water-mill and a "thousand- li ship".
In order to commemorate Zu's outstanding contributions to science, a mountain on the moon has been named after him. Yi Xing , a monk of the Tang Dynasty, led a large-scale project to identify the locations of the major stars, and, based on the results, concluded that the length of a degree of the meridian line was This was the first measurement of the meridian ever done in the world.
Around the year , Yi Xing and his colleagues constructed an armillary sphere which could move in synchronization with the movements of the heavenly bodies at night. It was installed in an observatory established in Chang'an Xi'an , the capital of the Tang Dynasty. Astronomical studies made impressive headway during the Song Dynasty During this period, five large-scale observations of the sky were undertaken, resulting in star maps.
The stone planisphere kept in Suzhou today was first drawn during the reign of Emperor Yuanfeng and then committed to stone in by Wang Zhiyuan of the Southern Song Dynasty. What are the major holidays in Argentina. What national holidays does France have. What holidays are observed in Antarctica. What holidays are Post Offices closed. Q: Which heavenly body the Gregorian calendar is based on? Write your answer Related questions. What heavenly body is the Gregorian calendar based on?
What is the Unit of time larger than a day that is not based on the motion of a heavenly body? What is the duration of The Heavenly Body? When was The Heavenly Body created? What phenomenon is produced when the heavenly body cast its shadow on another heavenly body?
What is the prefix meaning heavenly? What is heavenly bodies that goes around another heavenly body? What is the study of heavenly body called?
What is the bright heavenly body with head and tail? Do you know which heavenly body the Islamic calendar and Chinese calendar is based on? Why was the moon the first heavenly body to be considered for the almanac in Indian astronomy? Is earth a heavenly body? Do Planets have moons? Is earth a heavenly body or not? What is a tailed heavenly body?
Which heavenly body has flares and prominences? What space thing has a heavenly body and a tail? What is the meaning of material but incorruptible heavenly body? What is Closest heavenly body of the moon? Twenty-eight great warriors came to the aid of the general. Although they were defeated, their names were given as a mark of respect to the heavenly constellations. Each constellation is also associated with an animal, and also with a particular day of the lunar cycle. It is believed that when the moon moves through these constellations on their designated days, fortunes relating to auspicious and inauspicious activities for the day should be observed.
These associations are well documented in popular Chinese books and help advise people which days will prove the best for important plans such as marriage, burial, the watering of crops or the building of houses.
Take a look at the following image and the table below to identify the twenty eight circumpolar constellations and learn more about their associations and meanings. Because one of the main purposes of astronomical observation in ancient China was timekeeping, the sun and moon were very important.
The Chinese used a calendar system based on the phases of the moon measured through observing the position of the stars in the twenty-eight mansions and the time of the solar year, or season. The superstitious belief that linked events on earth to those in the heavens made people very wary of events in the sky.
Solar eclipses in particular were regarded with fear, and a common belief was that these occurred because a great dragon was attempting to devour the sun.
The forewarning of such an event was therefore imperative so people could gather to shout, strike gongs, and scare away the dragon. Over generations of observation, astronomers discovered a relationship we now know as the Saros cycle, a cycle in which sun, moon and earth are aligned in a particular way approximately every 18 years, This enabled them to predict solar and lunar eclipses with some accuracy but it was not an infallible system. In BC there was an unpredicted eclipse. Given the belief that such celestial events reflected events on earth and should be predicted by the emperor, complete accuracy was expected of court astronomers, and failure meant only one fate — execution.
The sun and moon have always had a special significance in Chinese folklore and various symbolism and myths surround them. It is held on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month when the moon is said to be at its largest, roundest, and brightest of the year.
The shape of the moon is said to represent completeness and perfection and its celebration is an important family occasion each year. Special round cakes, called moon cakes, are made to eat during the festival. The sun and moon have developed a particular iconography in China. The red sun is often pictured with a three-legged crow and the moon features a white hare or rabbit, pounding a pestle and mortar. The association of the hare and the moon is common to folklore all over the world.
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