The Dunhuang map or Dunhuang Star map is one of the first known graphical representations of

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

s from ancient

Chinese astronomy Astronomy in China has a long history stretching from the Shang dynasty, being refined over a period of more than 3,000 years. The ancient Chinese people have identified stars from 1300 BCE, as Chinese star names later categorized in the tw ...

, dated to the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

(618–907). Before this map, much of the star information mentioned in historical Chinese texts had been questioned.Whitfield, Susan.

004 004, 0O4, O04, OO4 may refer to: * 004, fictional British 00 Agent * 0O4, Corning Municipal Airport (California) * O04, the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation * Abdul Haq Wasiq, Guantanamo detainee 004 * Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engine * Lauda Ai ...

(2004)
''The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith''.
British Library Staff. Serindia Publications. . The map provides a graphical verification of the star observations, and are part of a series of pictures on one of the

Dunhuang manuscripts Dunhuang manuscripts refer to a wide variety of religious and secular documents (mostly manuscripts, but also including some woodblock-printed texts) in Chinese and other languages that were discovered at the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China, dur ...

. The astronomy behind the map is explained in an educational resource posted on the website of the

International Dunhuang Project The International Dunhuang Project (IDP) is an international collaborative effort to conserve, catalogue and digitise manuscripts, printed texts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from the Mogao caves at the Western Chinese city of Dunhuang and v ...

, where much of the research on the map has been done. The Dunhuang Star map is to date the world's oldest complete preserved star atlas.

History

Early in 1900s (decade), a walled-up cave containing a cache of

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced i ...

s was discovered by Chinese

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...

Wang Yuan-lu in the

Mogao Caves The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...

. The scroll with the star chart was found amongst those documents by

Aurel Stein Sir Marc Aurel Stein, ( hu, Stein Márk Aurél; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at ...

when he visited and examined the content of the cave in 1907.International Dunhuang Project.bl.uk
One of the first public mentionings of this script in Western studies was from

Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, i ...

's 1959 version of the book ''Science and Civilisation in China''. Since that time, only a few publications have been devoted to the map, nearly all being Chinese publications.

Colors

The symbols for the stars are divided into three different groups. The groups are presented in three colors representing the ''"Three Schools of Astronomical tradition"''.

References

External links

{{commons category, Dunhuang Star Atlas
"Star Atlas: Translation"
by Imre Galambos, 2010, International Dunhuang Project. Astronomy in China British Library oriental manuscripts Chinese manuscripts Star atlases Dunhuang manuscripts

History

Colors

See also

References

External links