The inscription of Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido (天象列次分野之圖) has the sun’s locations at the equinoxes, which must have been copied from the astronomical treatises in Chinese historical annals, Songshu (宋書) and Jinshu (晉書). According to the treatises, an astronomer Wang Fan (王蕃, 228–266 CE) referred those values from a calendrical system called Qianxiangli (乾象 曆, 223 CE), from which it is confirmed that it adopted the sun’s location at the winter solstice of the (211 4 )th du of the 8th lunar lodge Dou (斗) as the reference direction for equatorial lodge angles. This indicates that the sun’s locations at equinoxes and solstices in the calendrical system are the same as those in Jingchuli (景初曆, 237 CE). Hence, we propose that the sun’s location at the autumnal equinox in Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido should be corrected from ‘wu du shao ruo’ (五度少弱), meaning the (51 6 )th du, to ‘wu du ruo’ (五度弱), meaning the (411 12 )th du, of the first lunar lodge Jiao (角), as seen in Jingchuli. We reconstruct the polar coordinate system used in circular star charts, assuming that the mean motion rule was applied and its reference direction was the sun’s location at the winter solstice. Considering the precession, we determined the observational epoch of the sun’s location at the winter solstice to be 𝑡o = −18.3 ± 43.0 adopting the observational error of the so-called archaic determinatives (古度). It is noteworthy that the sun’s locations at equinoxes inscribed in Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido originated from Houhan Sifenli (後漢四分曆) of the Latter Han dynasty (85 CE), while the coordinate origin in the star chart is related to Taichuli (太初 曆) of the Former Han dynasty (104 BCE).

Shoushili was the official calendrical method promulgated in 1280 CE by the Yuan dynasty. It contains a list of the angular spans in right ascensions for the 28 lunar lodges. They are known to have been measured by Guo Shoujing with his advanced instruments with an unprecedented precision or reading error of 5′. Such precise data are useful to determine their observational epoch with an error range which is narrow enough to pinpoint on which historical occasion they were observed. Using the precise SIMBAD data based on eDR3 of GAIA and carefully identified determinative stars and considering the precession of equinoxes and proper motions, we apply linear regression methods to those data and obtain the observational epoch of 1271 ± 16 CE and the measurement error of 4.1′. We also have polar distances corresponding to declinations written in another manuscript of the Ming dynasty. Since the two data sets have similar significant digits, they were suggested to have the same origin. However, we obtain their observational epoch of 1364±5 CE and the measurement error of 5.7′. They must have been measured with different instruments and on a different occasion from the observations related to Shoushili. We review the history of the calendrical reform during the 13th century in the Yuan dynasty. We conclude that the observational epoch obtained from lodge spans in Shoushili agrees with the period of observations led by Guo Shoujing or 1276–1279 CE, which is also supported by the fact that the ecliptic lodge span values listed in Shoushili were calculated from the equatorial lodge spans.

We determine the observing sites for eclipses of large magnitude recorded in ancient Chinese chronicles from 200 BCE to 900 CE, by adopting the difference between terrestrial time and universal time, ΔT, given by Morrison & Stephenson (2004). The records of solar eclipses with large magnitude are divided into four groups in accordance with the historical variations of the capital cities of ancient Chinese dynasties. We determine areas in which all the eclipses in each group, with an eclipse magnitude larger than a certain threshold value, could be observed. We find that these areas coincide with the historical capitals, which agrees with the general idea that the solar eclipses were observed at the capital of each dynasty. This result also veries the ΔT values during the period from 100 BCE to 400 CE, during which historical records of eclipses are so rare that the ΔT values can only be obtained by interpolating the long-term data. Moreover, we show that the eclipses described by the term Ji in East-Asian history are not all total eclipses; their mean magnitude is 0:96 ± 0:04. We find that complementary expressions, such as dark daytime and appearance of stars during the eclipse, strengthen the possibility that eclipses described by the term Ji were total. We also provide quantitative definitions for expressions such as `being not complete and like a hook', `being almost complete', `visibility of stars during the eclipse', and `darkness during an eclipse.' The literal meanings of these expressions are in agreement with the recent physical modeling of sky brightness during total eclipses provided by K¨onnen & Hinz (2008).

It is known that the number of astronomers of a country registered to the International As- tronomical Union (IAU) is correlated with that country’s gross domestic product (GDP). However, the robustness of this relationship could be doubted, as the fraction of astronomers joining the IAU differs from country to country. Here we revisit this correlation by using more recent data, updated as of 2017. We find a similar correlation by using the total number of astronomers and astrophysicists with PhD degrees that are working in each country, instead of adopting the number of IAU members. We confirm the existence of the correlation. We also confirm the existence of two subgroups within this correlation. One group consists of advanced European countries having a long history of modern astronomy, while the other group consists of countries having experienced recent rapid economic development. In order to determine the cause for the correlation, we obtained the long-term variations of the number of as- tronomers, population, and the GDP for a number of countries. We find that the number of astronomers per capita for recently developing countries has increased more rapidly as GDP per capita increased, than that for fully developed countries. We collected demographic data of the Korean astronomical community and find that it has experienced recent rapid growth. From these findings we estimate the proper size of the Korean astronomical community by considering Korea economic power and population. The current number of PhD astronomers working in Korea is approximately 310, but it should be 550 in order for it to be comparable and competitive to the sizes of the Spanish, Canadian, and Japanese astronomical communities. If current trends continue, this number will be reached by 2030. In order to be comparable to the German, French, and Italian communities, there should be 800 PhD astronomers in Korea. We discuss ways to overcome the vulnerability of the Korean astronomical community, based on the statistics of national R&D expenditure structure in comparison with that of other major advanced countries.

Sambok (三伏, Three Hottest Days) is the common designation of Chobok (初伏, Early Hot Day), Jungbok (中伏, Middle Hot Day), and Malbok (末伏, Late Hot Day), and widely known to be one of the Korean folk customs. Hence, Sambok is notated in Manseryeok (Ten Thousand-Year Almanac) and in the annual astronomical almanac published by Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute. In this paper, we investigate the changes of Sambok in Korea based on various documents such as Joseonwangjosilok (朝鮮 王朝實錄, Annals of the Joseon Dynasty), Jeungbo-Jakryeoksik (增補作曆式, The Supplement of Manual for Calendar Making), astronomical almanacs, and so forth. According to Jeungbo-Jakryeoksik preserved in Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Chobok and Jungbok are defined as the third and fourth Gyeongil (庚日, The Day Starting with the Seventh Heavenly Stems in Sexagenary Cycles Assigned to Each Day) after the summer solstice, respectively, and Malbok is the first Gyeongil after Ipchu (Enthronement of Autumn). However, if the summer solstice is Gyeongil, then the third Gyeongil counting from the solstice becomes Chobok. Malbok depends on the time of Ipchu. Ipchu itself becomes Malbok if the time of Ipchu is in the morning, or next Gyeongil becomes Malbok if it is the afternoon. On the other hand, Malbok is defined as Ipchu itself regardless of its time according to Chiljeongbobeob (七政步法, Calculating Method for Sun, Moon, and Five Planets), Chubocheobryeo (推步捷例, Quick Examples for Calendrical Calculations), and so on. To verify the methods used to determine Sambok, we examined the record in the extant almanacs during the period of 1392 to 2100 for which the summer solstice or Ipchu is Gyeongil. As a result, we found a periodicity that if the time of Ipchu is in the morning, in general, the time is in the afternoon after two years and then is back into in the morning after nineteen years, i.e., the 2 + 19 years periodicity. However, we found the 2 + 17 years periodicity in some years. We also found that the Chobok method of Jeungbo-Jakryeoksik has been used since 1712, the thirty-eighth reign of King Sukjong (肅宗). In addition, we supposed that Malbok had been determined by the method like Chubocheobryeo since either 1846, the twelfth reign of King Heonjong (憲宗), or 1867, the fourth reign of King Gojong (高宗). At present, these methods of Sambok are customarily used without any legal basis. We, therefore, think that this study will help conventionalize the method defining Sambok in the future.

I found evidence that Kim Y ˘ong (金泳, 1749-1817) is the author of the Korean Poch' ˘on'ga with New Charts published in 1792 by the Astronomical Bureau of the Chos ˘on dynasty. I reconstructed a history of Kim Y ˘ong from various literature remained in other persons' anthologies and governmental records. My findings on the author and publication year can help to solve the problem on the origin of star charts in the Poch' ˘on'ga with New Charts. I also considered the changes of Chinese Bu-Tian-Ge and their star charts after Chongzhenglishu (崇禎曆書). I found that the new charts in the book of Huantiantushuo published by Li Mingche (李明徹, 1751-1832) in 1819 are approximately the same to those in the Poch' ˘on'ga with New Charts by Kim Y ˘ong in 1792.

In this study, we investigate the changes in the equatorial lodge degrees and polar distance degrees of determinative stars in the ancient Chinese archives. Confirmed is the fact that the coordinate values of those determinative stars defined in B.C. 104 had been used until the 8th century but were modified by the observations of Li Chunfeng (李淳風) in the early 7th century and Yixing (一行) in 723 A.D. The results of this study are compared with those in History of Chinese Astronomical Observations of Pan Nai. By applying the results of comtemporary astrodynamical calculations, their reliability is checked, and the corrected catalogues of Shi Shi (石氏) and Yixing are provided. The positional accuracy of those observations is estimated to be one degree.

The Cowherd Star and the Weaving Maid Star have been famous stars in East Asian countries. Nowadays Altair is defined to be the Cowherd Star in public materials including science books, mass media, public outreach programs, and movies played in public planetariums and science museums. However, in astronomical books and star-charts in history, the Cowherd Big Star (牽牛大星) has been known to be Dabih or β Cap in the constellation Capricorn, and the asterism Cowherd consists of six stars including Dabih. Since the same title is given to the different objects simultaneously, considerable misunderstanding and confusion among the public have occurred. In this paper we consider this problem in two aspects. One aspect is which star has been defined to be the Cowherd Star in ancient literatures; the other is which stars were regarded as the Cowherd or the Cowherd Star in the historical records of occultation or conjunction in History of Koryo, Annals of the Choson Dynasty, and Daily Records of Royal Secretariat of the Choson Dynasty. As a result, we see that Altair has been regarded as the Cowherd Star in folklore and literature, but Dabih has been defined to be the Cowherd Big Star in astronomical works. An explanation proposed by previous researchers on the reason why such double meanings have been appeared is introduced. In the explanation, the fact that the Altair was defined as the Cowherd Star in ancient times had not been handed over properly, and the name of Cowherd was later put to the Dabih and its surrounding five stars to form one of 28 lunar lodges. Based upon these facts, we suggest the following ideas: (1) Altair should be introduced to be the Cowherd Star in public-friendly programs, and Dabih should be noticed to be the Cowherd Big Star in the field of history of astronomy. Dabih should be added as the astronomical Cowherd Big Star in academic books such as a dictionary of astronomical terminology. (2) The Korean pronunciation for Altair should be al-tear instead of al-tairu in accordance with the definition in the astronomical terminology dictionary compiled by the Korean Astronomical Society.

It has been considered that 'exhausted eclipses' (日食旣) were total eclipses. However, modern precise calculations show that a significant fraction of such records are not realized to be total. Thus we doubt that the two concepts are equivalent. Here we investigate the meaning of 'exhausted eclipses' in the east-Asian history. We first find that eclipses of magnitude greater than 0.8 were regarded as 'exhausted eclipses' by a Korean astronomer of the 18th-century Choson dynasty. His notion was based upon the definition of 'exhausted eclipses' in the ephemerides of pre-modern Chinese dynasties. According to those ephemerides, the 'exhausted eclipses', whose magnitude is greater than 0.8, have the first contact at the western part of the solar disk and the fourth contact at the eastern part of the solar disk. A simple geometrical calculation shows that such cases really occur when the magnitude of eclipse is greater than 0.7. We pointed out that such an ancient definition might not be impractical for ancient astronomers, because the uncertainty of eclipse magnitude estimated by ancient Chinese ephemerides was 10% and the human sight has a spatial resolution of 1.2 arcmin, which is approximately one twentieth of the Sun's angular diameter.

P-Cygni type Lyα from starburst galaxies, either nearby galaxies or Lyman Break galaxies, are believed to be formed by galactic outflows such as galactic supershells or galactic superwinds. We develope a Monte Carlo code to calculate the Lyα line transfer in a galactic supershell which is expanding and formed of uniform and dusty neutral hydrogen gas. The escape of Lyα photons from the system is achieved by a number of back-scatterings. A series of emission peaks are formed by back-scatterings. When we observe P-Cygni type Lyα emissions of starforming galaxies, we can usually see merely singly-peaked emission. Hence the secondary and the tertiary emission humps should be destroyed. In order to do this, dust should be spatially more extended into the inner cavity than neutral supershell. We find that the kinematic information of the expanding supershell is conserved even in dusty media. We discuss the astrophysical applications of our results.

Almost half of primeval galaxies show P-Cygni type profiles in the Lyα emission line. The main underlying mechanism for the profile formation in these systems is thought to be the frequency re-distribution of the line photons in expanding scattering media surrounding the emission source. A Monte Carlo code is developed to investigate the Lyα line transfer in an optically thick and moving medium with a careful consideration of the scattering in the damping wings. Typical column densities and expansion velocities of neutral hydrogen investigated in this study are NH1 ~10 17-20 cm -2 and ΔV ~ 100 km s-1. We investigate the dependence of the emergent profiles on the kinematics and on the column density. Our numerical results are applied to show that the damped Lyα absorbers may possess an expanding H I supershell with bulk flow of ~ 200 km s-l and H I column density NH1 ~ 10 19 cm -2. We briefly discuss the observational implications.

The spatial distribution of meteoroids or cometary debris along the orbit of the Earth is investigated by analyzing the meteoric records in the Chronicle of the Koryo dynasty (918-1392) which is called Koryosa. Sporadic meteors in this period show the seasonal variation in number, which is similar to the current meteors. We also found that there are a few spikes showing large accumulation of records around the same dates. We regard these spikes as meteor showers in the Koryo period. We compared the dates of meteor showers with those compiled from the historical records around the world including Korea, Japan, China, Arab, and European countries. We discovered three prominent showers and four weak showers. The prominent ones are the Leonids, the Perseids, and the Aquarids and the Orionids pair. The last pair is the remnants of Halley's comet. The astronomical records written in the history book of the Koryo dynasty are turned out to be accurate and written in a steady manner. We can also see that those records can be useful to contribute the development of modern astronomy and astrophysics.

We developed a Monte Carlo code that describes the resonant Lyα line transfer in an optically thick, dusty, and static medium. The code was tested against the analytic solution derived by Neufeld (1990). We explain the line transfer mechanism by tracing histories of photons in the medium. We find that photons experiences a series of wing scatterings at the moment of thier escape from the medium, during which polarization may develop. We examined the amount of dust extinction for a wide range of dust abundances, which are compared with the analytic solution. Brief discussions on the astrophysical application of our work are presented.