In fact, since ancient times, the Chinese nation has never stopped exploring the universe. China is one of the earliest countries in the world with a long history of astronomy. The astronomical map of Suzhou Confucian Temple has the most say in the study of ancient astronomy in China!
The oldest existing all-day stone carving star map in the world
Suzhou Confucian Temple (Inscription Hall) has four Song steles, which stand quietly in the "Jimen" and few people come to visit. As everyone knows, these four Song monuments, together with the Forbidden City and Yungang Grottoes in Beijing, were listed as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
These four Song monuments are the geographical monument, the Shao Yun monument, the Pingjiang monument and the astronomical monument that we are going to talk about today.
This "astronomical map" was highly praised by astronomers in the United States, Britain, Japan, Canada and the former Soviet Union, and was unanimously recognized as the oldest observation map of the eastern stars in the world. It preserves the precious data of observing stars in China in the 11th century, and reflects the achievements and level of ancient astronomy in China. It is not only an important scientific historical material and cultural heritage, but also a world-famous astronomical relic.
Painted by Huang Shang, the teacher of Crown Prince Zhao Kuo in the Southern Song Dynasty.
This astronomical stone tablet is not a tombstone, but a classic of enlightenment literature drawn by Huang Shang, a famous writer and poet in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Huang Shang was once chosen as the teacher of Zhao Kuo, the son of Zhao Dun, Song Guangzong, the prince of the Southern Song Dynasty. For the sake of the astronomical geography of the Pope Prince, he drew eight astronomical geography maps, and this star map is one of them.
According to records, during the Northern Song Dynasty, * * * organized four large-scale celestial observations, and this star map was drawn according to the observation results during the Yuanfeng period (1078- 1085). 1247 (the seventh year of Chunyou), Wang Zhiyuan copied, wrote and carved stone tablets.
Covers all astronomical knowledge of China before the Song Dynasty.
The astronomical map stone tablet is 2.16m high and1.08m wide, which is divided into two parts: the upper part is divided into star map and the lower part is divided into explanation.
Draw three concentric circles with different sizes with the north pole of the star map as the center, so that the whole constellation of the celestial sphere is projected on its plane. The small circle represents the Arctic Circle, the middle circle represents the equator, and the big circle represents the boundary that can be seen in the southern sky. The other circle represents the ecliptic, and its diameter intersects with the equator. The two circles intersect at an angle of 24 degrees. At the intersection of the ecliptic and the equator, the vernal equinox is on the upper right and the autumnal equinox is on the lower left.
There are also two irregular lines in the center of the picture representing the Milky Way. 28 radial unequal width lines distinguish 28 veins. The short picture * * * is engraved with 1434 stars, far more than 1022 stars known in Europe in the 4th century. The text explains the astronomical phenomena such as cosmology, celestial bodies, stars, the Milky Way and the 24 solar terms, covering almost all the astronomical knowledge in ancient China before the Song Dynasty.
Obtained the authoritative certification of the international astronomical community.
After nearly a thousand years, is it hard for you to imagine? At that time, it was all observed with naked eyes. Today, it is detected with scientific instruments, and 100% is accurate. Joseph Needham, a famous British scientist, praised Huang Shang's astronomical map in his magnum opus History of Science and Technology in China, and commented that Huang Shang's astronomical map was more than 300 years ahead of Europe, calling him a famous ancient astronomer.
Huang Shang's Astronomical Pictorial has also been translated into English, German, French and other languages for publication. This stone tablet has long been listed as a national key protected cultural relic. All the astronomical knowledge on this monument paved the way for the future development of national science, technology and philosophy. From this perspective, China's entry into a space power is inherited, and this monument should prove it.