A Chinese Star Map Two Centuries Old

Abstract

First Paragraph: | A Chinese star map two centuries old is indeed a curiosity. It is to be found in the latest volume of the Annals of Zo-Se Observatory, in Zi-Ka-Wei, near Changhai, in China, which was distributed recently. This is for the year 1911, and consists of four parts. The first gives the customary solar observations of the year, the second some visual and photographic observations of double stars, and the third a number of fine photographs of Comet Brooks. The fourth part is the most interesting. It consists of a catalogue of 3083 stars observed during the eighteenth century under the direction of the Jesuit Father Kogler during the reign of the emperor K’ien-Long. The positions of the stars have been reduced to the epoch 1875 by Father Tsutsihashi and compared with European catalogues, especially with Bradley’s, so that almost all the stars have been identified.