The Evolution Of Chinese Astronomy

Abstract

In this paper we will discuss the relationship of Chinese astronomy in ancient china, Chinese astronomy is fascinating because it has developed largely from the Indo-European atmosphere and has developed its specific methods and nuances. The Chinese were so good in keeping astronomical records, allowing modern historians to determine that Chinese astronomy remained largely unchanged from 1800 BCE. Astronomy was a real reserve, and the emperors hired astronomers directly to follow the sky and record the phenomena, with the main purpose of accurately recording time, something that they began to do with great accuracy. Chronologists consider the Chinese excellent spectators and recorders of celestial events throughout the world. The Chinese have followed these events for the Arabs. The celestial bodies were then grouped into twenty-eight palaces that had been established on oracle bones exposed in Anyang. The nucleus of the classification of dwellings (xiù) seems to become clear during the reign of the sovereign Wu Ding (1339-1281 BC). This is placed on biblical chronology with the history of the world from 1500 BC. Chinese astronomy and the Tang era The most important step in the development of Chinese astronomy is between the third and the sixth century, when Chinese scholars and polymaths gave many wonderful contributions to mathematics and astronomy and produced instruments of accurate measurement It was.

Introduction

In China, as in many other cultures, there is evidence of interest and observation of the sky many years earlier than the written documentation suggests. Examples of ceramics now preserved in the Ancient Beijing Observatory and dating back to the Neolithic period (more than 5,000 years ago) show images of the sun and shells and bones of intricately carved animals images of stars as well as astronomical events such as bursts stars it can date from 1400 BC. A grave dating from around 4000 BC contained bones and shells inscribed with the Plow and symbols for the blue dragon and the white tiger, two of the four areas, the black turtle and the vermilion-like bird like the others. A lacquered box, dating from before 433 BC, had the names of the 28 villas engraved on the cover, which shows that this system had been in use for a long time. The peoples believe that the rulers of China, the first kings and later emperors, and they would receive their faith from heaven, astronomy will soon became a dominant science in China. The core duty of political concerned was to keep the earth in total harmony with the sky. This obligation was called 'mandate of heaven,' and the emperor himself was called Tian Zi, the Son of heaven. The stars themselves were given the astrological significance, which both made possible the predictions that influenced daily life and the main political strategies, and astronomy soon became a powerful political tool.

The Chinese were diligent in recognizing other astronomical phenomena, such as comets, sunspots, nova’s, and sun flares long before any other culture made such observations. They tried to catalog each star and defined their constellations of a main star, called the king, and surrounded them with principles. The one known astronomer Shi-Shen (4th BC) is believe to be classify 809 stars in 122 batch. He also made the first known observation of sunspots. Together with his contemporary, Kan-Te, he is one of the most remarkable Chinese astronomers. To make accurate measurements of the position in the sky, the Chinese used an armillary sphere, a metal sphere consisting of intersecting scaled circles, allowing the observer to coordinate each star. The first human record of an eclipse was made in 2136 BC and in hundreds of years of advanced air monitoring; the Chinese became highly skilled at predicting lunar eclipses. The first job of Chinese astronomers was to record the time; they announced what was the first day of the month and predicted lunar eclipses. Astronomers were often beheaded when their prediction was wrong. During the period of Emperor Huang Ti, Chinese astronomers divided the air into 10 stems and 12 branches along the horizon, offering a 60-year cycle. The first Chinese mainly used the constellation of the Big Dipper, which is related to the polar star in the early evening.

One of the famous observations of Chinese astronomers was that of a supernova of 1054. They called this phenomenon in the registers as a 'guest star' and mentioned that it remained brilliant for about a year before it became invisible again. This supernova has created what we see today as the Crab Nebula. The explosion itself in 1054 was also recorded by the Anasazi Indians in the southwestern US, but for some reason there is no news of this happening in Europe or any other culture.

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Chinese Astronomy and the Tang Dynasty

For the development of Chinese astronomy 3rd and 6th centuries were most important. When Chinese scientists and technologists made many amazing contributions to mathematics and astronomy, and created accurate measuring instruments. One of the most important astronomers of this specific period was Zu Chongzhi (429-500), a well-known polimath. Using self-designed tools, he suggested that the year would be 365.24281481 days long, a measure that differed by less than a minute from modern measurements.

He used this to design the Daming calendar, the most accurate lunisolar calendar available at the time. Other measurements include measuring the number of times the sun and moon overlap, representing 27,21223 times, which is very close to 27,21222 as we know it today; using this number, he successfully predicted an eclipse four times during 23 years (436 to 459). Yi Xing (683-727) was a monk who studied many of the methods and beliefs of Indian astronomy and mathematics, under the auspices of the Tang Dynasty. He was the first known astronomer to attempt to trace the length of a meridian line, explaining that it was 123.7km, not far from the modern size of 111km. Yi Xing was the main engine behind the construction of an armillary sphere that moved in combination with the air.

The Chinese Astronomers of the Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty, 960-1279, saw the Chinese build a number of huge observatories based on a series of accurate star maps, one of which was used to build a planetarium with 1434 stars and 28 constellations. At the end of this period, one of the greatest Chinese astronomers, Guo Shoujing (1231-1316), responsible for the creation of a large sundial, with which he could calculate the duration of a year in less than 30 seconds, a monumental result. He also improved the armillary sphere, making it less complex but also more accurate.

Chinese astronomy: Heritage

Chinese astronomers have often been consulted for Greek, Indian and Islamic contributions in the field, mainly because they use methods that are so different from the Eurocentric world. Their work was usually more focused on perfecting their observations and making more and more accurate measurements regarding the development of theories, but in this respect they were one of the most important ancient cultures. Chinese astronomers have generated extremely accurate time measurements and identified unusual cosmological phenomena such as nova, comets and meteor showers. This makes their work important for the development of the history of astronomy and filtered their ideas along the Silk Road to the Middle East and Europe.

References

1. http://idp.bl.uk/4DCGI/education/astronomy/history.html
2. https://explorable.com/chinese-astronomy