Cheonsang-yeolcha-bunya-jido (woodcut version)

Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido (; ) is a fourteenth-century

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

star map A star chart is a celestial map of the night sky with astronomical objects laid out on a grid system. They are used to identify and locate constellations, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and planets. They have been used for human navigation since ...

, copies of which were spread nationwide in the

Joseon Dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

. The name is sometimes translated as the "chart of the constellations and the regions they govern." King Taejo ordered royal

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

s to carve the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

s on a flat black stone in December, 1395. The stone is about 122.5 cm in

width Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...

, 211 cm in

height Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is). For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is abou ...

, and 12 cm in depth. The engraved stone shows the 1,467 stars visible from Korea, 264 constellations and their names, the ecliptic and equatorial lines, and 365 scales around. It was compiled through a combination of a

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most ...

star map with more recent observations. The chart shows positions of the

heavenly bodies "Heavenly Bodies" is a song written by Elaine Lifton, Gloria Nissenson and Lee Ritenour, and recorded by American country music artist Earl Thomas Conley. It was released in May 1982 as the first single from the album '' Somewhere Between Right ...

in their natural order, allocated on their respective celestial fields. Its map projection law is found to be the polar equatorial and equidistance projection : the linear distance of an object on the map from the center is lineally proportional to the north polar angular distance. The epoch of the stellar positions is estimated to be near the First Century for the stars with declination less than fifty degrees, and to be near 1395 AD for stars with

declination In astronomy, declination (abbreviated dec; symbol ''δ'') is one of the two angles that locate a point on the celestial sphere in the equatorial coordinate system, the other being hour angle. Declination's angle is measured north or south of the ...

higher than fifty degrees. This map became standard during the

Joseon dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

, with numerous copies printed and disseminated throughout the kingdom, until it was superseded by Western planispheres in the nineteenth century. The map is the 228th

national treasure of South Korea A National Treasure () is a tangible treasure, artifact, site, or building which is recognized by the South Korean government as having exceptional artistic, cultural and historical value to the country. The title is one of the eight State-designa ...

, and is exhibited at the

National Palace Museum The National Palace Museum (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Kwet-li̍p kù-kiung pok-vu̍t-yèn), is a museum in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). It has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks, many of which wer ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. The map is now used as a background image on the reverse of the 2007 issued 10,000

won Won may refer to: *The Korean won from 1902–1910 *South Korean won, the currency of the Republic of Korea *North Korean won, the currency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea * Won (Korean surname) * Won (Korean given name) * Won Buddhis ...

banknotes and was featured in the opening ceremonies of the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

in PyeongChang.

Notes

* For example, by Jeon (1998), p. 51. * Jeon (1998), pp. 51–52. Cites a poem about the map written by Yangchon Kwon Geun.

References

* * Published originally in ''

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

'' Magazine, Vol. 28 No. 3, May/June 1999 * *{{cite web, title=History of Korean astronomy, work=First period, url=http://www.stormpages.com/swadhwa/hofa/ka.html, accessdate=January 1, 2006, url-status=dead, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050901164119/http://www.stormpages.com/swadhwa/hofa/ka.html, archivedate=September 1, 2005 Star maps History of astronomy Joseon dynasty works Astronomy in Korea 14th century in Korea 14th century in science Engraving Medieval documents National Treasures of South Korea

See also

Notes

References