Islamic Astronomical Tables in China The Sources for the Huihui li

Dalen, Benno van

doi:10.1007/978-94-015-9862-0_2

Cited by 11 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…32 What is introduced in the Huihui Lifa are only astronomical tables and very brief explanations of how to use them, so in this sense, we can call it a typical Zīj. 33 Different from the traditional astronomy, Huihui Lifa contains the "Method for the latitude of five planets" 五星緯度 and "Diagrams for the passing of the moon or planets through asterism" 凌犯入宿圖, and this makes it an appropriate method for the calculations of encroachments. The Huihui Lifa also has a star catalogue, which lists the fixed stars within 10 degrees of the ecliptic.…”

Section: From Observations To Predictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Astronomy in Service of Old Astrology: Close Planetary Conjunctions in Pre-Modern China

Liang

2019

Journal for the History of Astronomy

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This article introduces various definitions and criteria for the astronomical phenomena of “encroachments” (close lunar and planetary conjunctions) in pre-modern China. With improvements in observations and mathematical astronomy, the standard of encroachments began to undergo many changes leading to more precise explanations of the phenomena. Before the adoption of Huihui Lifa (Islamic-Chinese calendrical astronomy), traditional Chinese methods could not predict the phenomena of encroachments, and records of encroachments were mainly based on actual observations. These records abound in Chinese dynastic histories, and they play an essential role in the interpretation of astrological omens. In the first half of the seventeenth century, the prediction of encroachments became an effective approach for examining the accuracy of different elements of calendrical astronomy besides solar and lunar eclipses. In the meantime, with the introduction of western astronomical knowledge into China, people had a better understanding of the principle of encroachments, and they began to question its rationality in astrology. Moreover, new knowledge of encroachments also brought new insights and inspired some philosophical discussions on the structure of the cosmos. However, these new astronomical methods still served the old astrology, due to the continued requirements that astronomers interpret astrological omens.

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Section: From Observations To Predictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Astronomy in Service of Old Astrology: Close Planetary Conjunctions in Pre-Modern China

Liang

2019

Journal for the History of Astronomy

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“…Accordingly, in the case of a few Islamic astronomers for whom we can be certain that the new parameter values adopted in their works are observational achievements, both sets of the eccentricities and apogee longitudes have values independent from Ptolemy. Examples that provide undisputable pieces of evidence for it are: the non-Ptolemaic values derived from the observations carried out by Ibn al-A‘lam at Baghdad in the latter part of the tenth century, by Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Maghribī in the Maragha observatory and, contemporarily, by a group of Persian astronomers in the Islamic Astronomical Bureau in Beijing under the control of the Mongolian Yuan dynasty in the latter part of the thirteenth century (about it, e.g., see van Dalen 2002a, 2002b; Yabuuti 1997), as well as by the astronomers in the Samarqand observatory over one century later 19…”

Section: New Findings For the Motion Of The Apsidal Lines Of The Sun mentioning

confidence: 99%

Holding or Breaking with Ptolemy's Generalization: Considerations about the Motion of the Planetary Apsidal Lines in Medieval Islamic Astronomy

Mozaffari

2017

Sci Context

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Argument In the Almagest, Ptolemy finds that the apogee of Mercury moves progressively at a speed equal to his value for the rate of precession, namely one degree per century, in the tropical reference system of the ecliptic coordinates. He generalizes this to the other planets, so that the motions of the apogees of all five planets are assumed to be equal, while the solar apsidal line is taken to be fixed. In medieval Islamic astronomy, one change in this general proposition took place because of the discovery of the motion of the solar apogee in the ninth century, which gave rise to lengthy discussions on the speed of its motion. Initially Bīrūnī and later Ibn al-Zarqālluh assigned a proper motion to it, although at different rates. Nevertheless, appealing to the Ptolemaic generalization and interpreting it as a methodological axiom, the dominant idea became to extend it in order to include the motion of the solar apogee as well. Another change occurred after correctly making a distinction between the motion of the apogees and the rate of precession. Some Western Islamic astronomers generalized Ibn al-Zarqālluh's proper motion of the solar apogee to the apogees of the planets. Analogously, Ibn al-Shāṭir maintained that the motion of the apogees is faster than precession. Nevertheless, the Ptolemaic generalization in the case of the equality of the motions of the apogees remained untouchable, despite the notable development of planetary astronomy, in both theoretical and observational aspects, in the late Islamic period.

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Mercury: An Overview

Mahoney

2013

Mercury

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Islamic Astronomical Tables in China The Sources for the Huihui li

Cited by 11 publications

References 6 publications

New Astronomy in Service of Old Astrology: Close Planetary Conjunctions in Pre-Modern China

New Astronomy in Service of Old Astrology: Close Planetary Conjunctions in Pre-Modern China

Holding or Breaking with Ptolemy's Generalization: Considerations about the Motion of the Planetary Apsidal Lines in Medieval Islamic Astronomy

Mercury: An Overview

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