Cheonsang-yeolcha-bunya-jido (woodcut version)

Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido (; ) is a fourteenth-century Korean

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. The name is sometimes translated as the "chart of the constellations and the regions they govern." King Taejo ordered royal astronomers 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, 211 cm in height, 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 line Equatorial may refer to something related to: * Earth's equator **the tropics, the Earth's equatorial region ** tropical climate *the Celestial equator **equatorial orbit ** equatorial coordinate system **equatorial mount, of telescopes * equato ...

s, and 365 scales around. It was compiled through a combination of a Goguryeo 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 field Celestial may refer to: Science * Objects or events seen in the sky and the following astronomical terms: ** Astronomical object, a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists in the observable universe ** Celest ...

s. Its map

projection law Projection, projections or projective may refer to: Physics * Projection (physics), the action/process of light, heat, or sound reflecting from a surface to another in a different direction * The display of images by a projector Optics, graphic ...

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 Proportionality, proportion or proportional may refer to: Mathematics * Proportionality (mathematics), the property of two variables being in a multiplicative relation to a constant * Ratio, of one quantity to another, especially of a part compare ...

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, 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, 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 ...

in Seoul. 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