This sky chart is from a star atlas was found among 40,000 other manuscripts sealed in a Buddhist Mogao cave in Dunhuang on the Chinese Silk road.
The charts, drawn on a 3.9 meter long scroll made of mullberry paper, recorded the sky as visible from China around the years +(649-684) in the early Tang Dynasty using methods still used in geographical mapping today, and have been found to be accurate to within a few degrees.
Astronomy was an imperial science in ancient China, and court astronomers and astrologers created star charts for Chinese emperors to use in making political and warfare decisions.
Above: The North circumpolar region (Map 13) from the polar region down to a celestial latitude of about +50°.
Related Posts
Hear Me While You Can
CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL Fighting to protect nature for people Nature is life: Every breath you take, every drop you drink, every bite you eat — it all comes from nature. And by storing climate-warming carbon, ecosystems like…
One Circle More
Is the spiral the shape of life? From our DNA to galaxies, spirals permeate nature at every level. Spirals are found in algae, flowers, pine cones, shells, vines. Nature often moves in spirals — draining water,…
The Art of Remembrance
Memento Mori Mausoleums www.Mementomorimausoleums.com Tracy Conway worked as a stage hand and roadie until the pandemic hit. She reinvented herself making mausoleums, urns, planchettes and other tokens. Tracy L. Conway is a classically trained woodworker, a…