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Contact: Jim Doyle
JUNE 10, 1993
Astronomers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the U.S.
Naval Observatory have solved the ancient mystery of the origin
of the Chinese calendar, it was reported to the 182nd meeting of
the American Astronomical Society today in Berkeley, Calif.
Kevin Pang of JPL and John Bangert of the Naval Observatory
said they have found a date in 1953 B.C. when the sun, moon and
five planets all lined up in the sky at dawn -- providing the
basis for the beginning of the Chinese calendar.
The astronomers used planetary positions in ancient times --
available in JPL's ephemerides, or database of planetary motions
-- to pinpoint the date.
"Humans have always regarded such rare celestial encounters
with awe and foreboding," Pang said. "Recent planetary
conjunctions have simultaneously raised hopes for the dawning of
the Age of Aquarius and portents for the world's apocalyptic
end," he said.
Although alignments of Jupiter, Mars and other planets have
been followed by neither, that has not discouraged new
speculations about a coming conjunction of the sun, moon and five
planets in the constellation Aries on May 5, 2000 A.D., Pang
said.
Pang suggests that westerners' fear of such heavenly signs
may have been ingrained by the 1345 A.D. planetary conjunction in
the constellation Aquarius, which was followed by the Black Death
that killed a third of Europe's population.
In contrast, he said, Orientals have always considered a
five-planet alignment as a favorable omen, signaling the dawn of
a new age and the world's renewal.
While the beginning of a day is dawn, a five-planet
conjunction occurring at dawn, with a new moon, and the start of
spring would truly be the beginning of all cycles, he said. For
calendar makers, such a moment would also be an ideal starting
point for counting days, months, years and planetary periods.
"From the 13th century B.C. they looked for that moment,"
Pang said. "The quest motivated the ancient Chinese to build ever
better clocks, better instruments and observatories. They had a
vast network of observers. They finally concluded that such a
magic moment never did occur and ended the search in 1280 A.D."
Later, Jesuit missionaries in China, using formulas based on
Johann Kepler's laws of planetary motion, took up the search
again but they also failed, Pang said.
The date they suggested for the magic moment, February 28,
2449 B.C. is incorrect, yet is still listed in a Guinness book of
astronomical records.
In the latest search for the Holy Grail of Chinese
astronomy, Pang and Bangert were aided by computer-generated
planetary ephemerides and a clue from an ancient text.
Pang found a passage in a 1st century B.C. text of Hong Fan
Zhuan, that says: "The Ancient Zhuanxu calendar (invented in
about 2000 B.C.) began at dawn, in the beginning of spring, when
the sun, new moon and five planets gathered in the constellation
Yingshi (Pegasus.)" The book was written by Liu Xiang who lived
from 77 to 9 B.C.
Pang said this was all the hint he and Bangert needed. A
computer search of planetary positions in the 2000 B.C. era gave
only one possible match -- March 5, 1953 B.C.
Before dawn on that day, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and
Saturn lined up like a pearl necklace in the eastern sky, next to
the Great Pegasus Square, he said. The planets all spanned but a
few degrees. The new moon occurred shortly thereafter when the
sun, moon, and five planets all lined up in Pegasus, exactly as
Liu had stated.
The dawn of March 5, 1953 B.C. was indeed the beginning of a
day, month, year and all known planetary cycles, the magic moment
Chinese and Jesuit astronomers searched for over 2000 years, Pang
said.
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___ _____ ___
/_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
| | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab |
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