Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-fmk2r Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-12T17:49:01.504Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Uses of Ancient Data in Modern Astronomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

J A. Eddy
J A. Eddy*
Affiliation:
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, 80307, USA

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Ancient astronomical data are a limited resource that can fill unique needs in modern research. Records from the Orient are of particular value because they were taken more or less continuously, as parts of dynastic and local histories – often for astrological purposes. We review three problems in modern astronomy that lean heavily on ancient records from the Middle East and Orient: the study of solar variability; studies of the variable rotation of the earth; and studies of the occurrence and physics of novae, supernovae and comets.

Type
Mediaeval Astronomy
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 91: History of Oriental Astronomy , 1987 , pp. 254 - 260
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

References

Bray, R.J. & Loughhead, R.E. (1965). Sunspots. New York, John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Clark, D.H. & Stephenson, F.R. (1977). The Historical Supernovae. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Clark, D.H. & Stephenson, F.R. (1978). An interpretation of the pre-telescopic sunspot records from the Orient. Q. J. Roy. Astron. Soc, 19, 387–410.Google Scholar
Eddy, J.A. (1976). The Maunder Minimum. Science, 192, 1189–1200.Google Scholar
Eddy, J.A. (1977). The case of the missing sunspots. Scientific American, 236, 80–92.Google Scholar
Eddy, J.A. (1980). The historical record of solar activity. In The Ancient Sun, ed. Pepin, R.O., Eddy, J.A., Merrill, R.B., pp. 1l9–34.New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Eddy, J.A. (1983). The Maunder Minimum: a reappraisal. Solar Physics, 89, 195–207.Google Scholar
Needham, J. (1959). Science and Civilization in China. Vol. 3. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stephenson, F.R. (1982a). Historical eclipses. Scientific American, 247(4) 170–83.Google Scholar
Stephenson, F.R. (1982b). The skies of Babylon. New Scientist, 95 (1319), 478–81.Google Scholar
Stephenson, F.R. & Clark, D.H. (1978). Applications of Early Astronomical Records. Bristol: Adam Hilger Ltd.Google Scholar
Stephenson, F.R. & Yau, K.C. (1985). Far Eastern observations of Halley’s comet:240 BC to AD 1368. J. British Interplanetary Society, 38, 195–216.Google Scholar
Stephenson, F.R., Yau, K.K.C & Hunger, H. (1985) Records of Halley's comet on Babylonian tablets. Nature, 314, 587-82.Google Scholar
Stephenson, F.R. & Morrison, L.V. (1984). Long-term changes in the rotation of the earth: 700 B.C. to A.D. 1980. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London, A313, 47–70.Google Scholar
Walker, C.B.F. (1985). Halle’s comet in Babylonia. Nature, 314, 576-7.Google Scholar
Willis, D.M, Easterbrook, M.G. & Stephenson, F.R. (1980). Seasonal variation of oriental sunspot sightings. Nature, 287, 617-9.Google Scholar
Xu Zhen-tao, and Jiang Yao-tiao, . (1982). The solar activity in the seventeenth century re-assessed in the light of sunspot records in the local gazettes of China. Chin. Astron. Astrophys., 2, 84–90.Google Scholar
Yunnan Observatory, Ancient Sunspot Records Research Group (1979). A recompilation of our country's records of sunspots through the ages and an inquiry into possible periodicities in their activity. Acta Astron. Sinica, 17,217–27. (Published in English in Chinese Astron. 1,347-359, 1977).Google Scholar