1. Ancient Chinese Astronomy - Unveil the mysteries Kai Cai Oct.4, 2002

2. Chinese Astronomy Calendars /Almanac: near 100 almanacs Constellation system Records of conspicuous events: guest stars, sunspots, eclipses, etc… Instruments

3. 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).

4. 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

5. 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 http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/science/atlas/text/crate rtex_c.html

6. 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

7. 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

8. Cross-cultural Communications Early: Indian Astronomy (came with Buddhism) – The beginning of (personal) astrology (horoscope) Islamic astronomers: came to China late 13 th century (~1300AD) Western Astronomy input: around ~1600s Qing dynasty: calendar completely based on western astronomy

9. Instruments Hun Yi (armilla): invented in Han dynasty (~104 BC); used to measure coordinates of astronomical objects Abridged armilla (early 14 th century): by Guo Shoujing Bronze shadow scale: determine winter solstice, length of a year, etc. Poly-vascular inflow clepsydra: a time- keeping device Huntian Yi: to simulate the sky pattern

10. Pictures 28 xu: http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/e_book/hi story_c/images/constel_28.jpg 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.jpghttp://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 http://dbs.bao.ac.cn/cas/pic/stamp.gif Instruments: see http://dbs.bao.ac.cn/cas/chi.html (some) http://dbs.bao.ac.cn/cas/chi.html

11. Some useful references http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200111/2 7/1127109.htmhttp://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200111/2 7/1127109.htm http://web.syr.edu/~bjing/calendar.htm http://www.scivis.com/AC/hist/chinacity.html http://homepages.primex.co.uk/~sproston/ssta r9.htmhttp://homepages.primex.co.uk/~sproston/ssta r9.htm History of China: Chronology –See http://www.chinatoday.com/history/history.htm