Ancient Chinese Celestial Navigation By Nicholas James Baldwin

Ancient Chinese Celestial Navigation By: Nicholas James Baldwin, Ron, Reid

General Information • The first written records of Chinese astronomy was from 3000 BC • First record of eclipse was during 2136 BC • 7000 years ago they were already able to conduct sea voyages with canoes, rafts, and they had rough navigation knowledge • Most famous observation made by Chinese astronomers was the supernova in 1054 • They followed the 12 -month, 365. 25 day calendar year

Famous Astronomers § Gan De § Guo Shoujing § Shen Kuo § Shi Shen § Su Song § Xu Guangqi § Zhang Heng

How they traveled § Chinese people traveled by looking at the northern star § Celestial navigation technology means pinpointing the position and the direction of a sailing boat by using a constellation’s position, angle and “height” from a sea level point-of-view § The Chinese developed a compass in the 11 th century

Qianxing Board § Consisted of 12 square boards § Measures distance from northern star to location you’re at § To measure: o Raise your arm holding onto the board, looking up into the sky. o The top of the board represents the northern star, bottom represents sea level

The Dunhuang Star Map § One of the first known graphical representations of stars from Ancient Chinese astronomy § Before this map was created, lots of information was questioned § Provides a graphical verification of the star observations § World’s oldest preserved star atlas