Abstract
East Asia (China, Japan and Korea) is very rich in ancient eclipse records. This paper presents the analysis and use of them in the study of the Earth’s rotation. These astronomical activities of East Asia have the same origin, therefore their records may constitute one combined series. It is the longest and least broken series in the world, which extends from 776 B.C. to A.D. 1630, and includes 512 central eclipses and 388 eclipse timings (139 solar, 249 lunar). It has become important to use the ancient astronomical records for studying the secular variations of the Earth’s rotation, but the value of materials of East Asian civilizations is still ignored. This situation should be changed.
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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Li, Z., Han, Y., Zeng, Z. (1990). Ancient Eclipse Records of East Asia and the Earth’s Rotation. In: Brosche, P., Sündermann, J. (eds) Earth’s Rotation from Eons to Days. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75587-3_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75587-3_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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