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Appendix. Eclipses During the Reign of Emperor P'ing

i. An solar eclipse is recorded in Yüan-shih I, v (the fifth month), on the day ting-szu, the first day of the month (12: 4a). Hoang equates this day with June 10, 1 A.D., for which Oppolzer calculates his solar eclipse no. 2885. According to calculation, at Ch'ang-an the eclipse reached a magnitude of 0.75 (sun's diameter = 1.00) at 10:44 a.m. local time, so that it was conspicuous. The sun's longitude was 76° = 75° R.A. HS 27 Cb: 16a says that the eclipse was "in [the constellation] Tung-ching," whose first star, μ Gem, was then in 66° R.A. This constellation extends for some 33°.

In the year between this and preceding recorded eclipse, no solar eclipses were visible in China.

ii. A second solar eclipse is recorded in Yüan-shih II, ix, mou-shen, the last day of the month (12: 6a). HS 27 Cb: 16 adds that it was total. Hoang equates this day with Nov. 23, 2 A.D., for which Oppolzer calculates his solar eclipse no. 2888. Calculation shows that at Ch'ang-an the eclipse reached a magnitude of 0.88, and that the path of totality passed thru the present Ning-hsia, northern Shensi, K'ai-feng, and Shanghai, so that reports of totality could easily be brought to the capital.

It is curious that the totality should be reported in the "Treatise," and not in the Annals; twice previously (ch. II, eclipse ii; ch. X, eclipse ii) differences between the accounts in the "Annals" and "Treatise" showed that the "Treatise" represents observations in the capital. But after 28 B.C., (except for the eclipse of 2 B.C.) the account in the "Treatise" does not as previously give the precise positions of eclipses in the heavens, only stating what constellation it was in and not always that; possibly the detailed account of eclipses, which was made at the capital and was used by Pan Ku as the source for his Treatise, ended with the eclipse of 28 B.C.

In the seventeen months between this and the preceding recorded eclipse, no solar eclipses were visible in China.

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IATHPublished by The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, © Copyright 2003 by Anne Kinney and the University of Virginia