Studying a Korean Star Catalogue From 1396 AD

Study of the star catalogue (epoch AD 1396.0) recorded in ancient Korean astronomical almanac

Authors:

Jeon et al

Abstract:

The study of old star catalogues provides important astrometric data. Most of the researches based on the old star catalogues were manuscript published in Europe and from Arabic/Islam. However, the old star catalogues published in East Asia did not get attention. Therefore, among the East Asian star catalogues we focus on a particular catalogue recorded in a Korean almanac. Its catalogue contains 277 stars that are positioned in a region within 10° of the ecliptic plane. The stars in the catalogue were identified using the modern Hipparcos catalogue. We identified 274 among 277 stars, which is a rate of 98.9 per cent. The catalogue records the epoch of the stars’ positions as AD 1396.0. However, by using all of the identified stars we found that the initial epoch of the catalogue is AD 1363.1 ± 3.2. In conclusion, the star catalogue was compiled and edited from various older star catalogues. We assume a correlation with the Almagest by Ptolemaios. This study presents newly analysed results from the historically important astronomical data discovered in East Asia. Therefore, this star catalogue will become important data for comparison with the star catalogues published in Europe and from Arabic/Islam.