Zhōutiān xīngwèi jīngwěi xiùdù kǎo 周天星位經緯宿度考
Investigation of the Ecliptic Longitude, Latitude, and Lodge-Degree of the Star-Positions across the Whole Heaven
About the work
This is a substantial twenty-eight-juǎn Qīng-period star-catalog of anonymous authorship (catalog meta: 者不详 zhě bù xiáng, “compiler unknown”). The title sets out the catalog’s organising scheme: for every “xīngwèi” 星位 (star-position) within the asterisms (xīngguān) “across the whole heaven” (zhōutiān), the work tabulates the jīng 經 (ecliptic longitude huángjīng 黃經), the wěi 緯 (ecliptic latitude huángwěi 黃緯), and the xiùdù 宿度 (the position in degrees within the lunar lodge in the rùxiù dù 入宿度 reckoning that converts the modern ecliptic coordinates back into the traditional Chinese reference frame).
Abstract
The combination of huángjīng + huángwěi with xiùdù dates this catalog to the Xīyáng xīnfǎ era — i.e., post-Schall-Verbiest reform of the calendar (1645 onwards). The catalog’s epoch is internal to the work and is not securely datable without inspection of the modern reprint; the broad bracket adopted here is the Qīng dynasty (1644–1911). The 28-juǎn extent is exceptional and suggests an imperial-bureau working catalog rather than a private compilation. The catalog uses the Tychonic-Keplerian observational results (proper motions partially incorporated; precession reduced to the Yǒngnián lì epoch of 1684).
The work is preserved in the Sìkù wèishōu shū jíkān and reprinted in the Zhōngguó kēxué jìshù diǎnjí tōnghuì (refid KX03-07-022). It is one of the principal anonymous star-catalogs that bridges the Schall-Verbiest Yíxiàng zhì tradition (KR3fa021) and the imperially-published Yíxiàng kǎochéng 儀象考成 (1744) and Yíxiàng kǎochéng xùbiān (KR3fa037) of the Qiánlóng and Dàoguāng reigns.
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language translation located.
- Pan Nai 潘鼐. 1989. Zhōngguó héngxīng guāncè shǐ 中國恆星觀測史. Shanghai. — surveys the Qīng-bureau star-catalogs.
- Stephenson, F. Richard. 1994. “Chinese and Korean Star Maps and Catalogs.” History of Cartography, vol. 2.2, Chicago: UCP, 511–578.
- Han Qi 韓琦. 2004. “The Compilation of the Yíxiàng kǎochéng and the Reform of the Chinese Astronomical Bureau in the Eighteenth Century.” Historia Scientiarum 14: 1–18.