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F. R. Stephenson and M. A. Houlden, Atlas of historical eclipse maps: East Asia 1500 B.C.–A.D. 1900: a review article1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

David W. Pankenier
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Extract

Few experiences are as exasperating as being obliged to resort to tedious hand calculation because the reference works available for the purpose of verifying historical eclipse observations are plainly inadequate. To those of us concerned with the history of East Asia who are intimidated enough by the chore of balancing the monthly bank statement, F. R. Stephenson's and M. A. Houlden's Atlas of historical eclipse maps will be a most welcome addition to the reference library.

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , October 1988 , pp. 521 - 524
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1988

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References

2 Stahlman, W. D. and Gingerich, O., Solar and planetary longitudes for years – 2500 to 2000 by 10-day intervals (Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1963)Google Scholar.

3 Liu, Bao-lin, ‘Table of lunar eclipses B.C. 1500–B.C. 1000’, rpt. in Chinese Astronomy, 1, 1979, 179–96Google Scholar; Toshio, Watanabe, Nisshoku gesshoku hĀten (Tokyo, Yüsankaku, 1979)Google Scholar: a fairly substantial discussion of East Asian eclipses covering much the same ground as Stephenson and Houlden; Mucke, H. and Meeus, J., Canon of lunar eclipses – 2002 to 2526 (Vienna, Astronomisches Büro, 1983)Google Scholar; Newton, R. R., A canon of solar eclipses for the years –1500 to –1000 (Laurel, Md., Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, 1980)Google Scholar; Newton, R. R., A canon of lunar eclipses for the years –1500 to –1000 (Laurel, Md., Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, 1977)Google Scholar. Both Newton canons are based on conditions of visibility at the Shang capital at Anyang.

4 Aveni, A., ‘Astronomical tables intended for use in astro-archaeological studies’, American Antiquity, 37/4, 1972, 531–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hawkins, G., ‘Astro-archaeology’, Vistas in Astronomy, 10, 1968, 45–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar; includes a 5000-year catalogue of right ascension and declination of all stars with visual magnitude greater than + 300; Meeus, J., Astronomical tables of the sun, moon, and planets (Richmond, Willman-Bell, Inc., 1983)Google Scholar; especially ‘Positions of 48 zodiacal stars, –1600 to 2800’ and ‘Moon Phases, – 1500 to 2999’.

5 Ho, Peng Yoke, ‘Ancient and mediaeval observations of comets and novae in Chinese sources’, Vistas in Astronomy, 5, 1962, 127–222Google Scholar; Tao, Kiang, ‘The past orbit of Halley's Comet’, Mem. R. Astr. Soc, 76, 1972, 27–66Google Scholar; Yeomans, D. K. and Tao, Kiang, ‘The long-term motion of Comet Halley’, Mon. Not. R. Astr. Soc, 197, 1981, 633–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Cf. the hemispherical projections in Mucke, H. and Meeus, J., Canon of solar eclipses –2003 to 2526 (Vienna, Astronomisches Biiro, 1983)Google Scholar.

7 As recently as 1980 Newton, R. R. (A canon of solar eclipses, 1980, 23)Google Scholar argued that the uncertainty could be as great as 2·5 hours.

8 von Oppolzer, Th. R., Canon der Finsternisse (Vienna, 1887)Google Scholar; Gingerich, tr. O., Canon of eclipses (New York, Dover Publications, 1962)Google Scholar.

9 Pang, Sunjoo, ‘A study of Western Chou chronology’, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto, Canada, 1977Google Scholar.