After 2700 Years: Ancient Princely Court in China Located thanks Solar Eclipse
2700 years ago, a total solar eclipse was observed at a princely court in China. A research team has now determined the exact location of this court at the time
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A new analysis of one of the oldest solar eclipses described in historical sources has enabled a correction of the observation site at the time and confirms how much slower the Earth rotates on its own axis 2700 years later. This has now been published by the University of Nagoya in Japan, explaining that it concerns a total solar eclipse observed in 709 BCE from the court in Qufu, the capital of the Principality of Lu. Later descriptions of the celestial spectacle have now not only confirmed previous assumptions about solar activity at the time but also shown that the exact location of the court was not where it was previously assumed to be. Instead, it must have been located about 8 km away.
Precise astronomical observations
As the research group explains, the total solar eclipse is the oldest that can be precisely dated based on written sources. Centuries later, it was also added that the sun had been "completely yellow at the top and bottom," which is considered the oldest known description of the solar corona. However, its reliability is questionable given the later addition. Because it was believed in ancient China that celestial phenomena provided information about whether rulers behaved correctly or incorrectly, they were observed and documented with particular care.
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Based on the ancient records and modern astronomical data, the research team has now been able to determine that the difference between Terrestrial Time and Universal Time at the time was 20 to 21 seconds. Today, this value, called Delta T (ΔT), is more than three times as high. Furthermore, the description of the corona aligns with the current state of knowledge, according to which the sun was ending a period of reduced activity at the time and had reached the maximum of its eleven-year cycle. The precise localization of the princely court is also important because Qufu is particularly significant for Chinese history as the birthplace and deathplace of Confucius. The group describes their results in an article in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
(mho)
