Blogs

BEIJING ANCIENT OBSERVATORY - GABRIEL JAIMES

By GABRIEL ANDRES JAIMES ILLANES posted 04-20-2021 18:51

  

Greetings and Clear Skies!

On October, 1st I had the opportunity to visit the Ancient Observatorie in Beijing, China.

Declared as UNESCO world Astronomical Heritage, the observatory was built in 1442 with Ming dinasty and during Qing dinasty it was expanded. It is located in DongCheng District.

Besides structures, eight bronze instruments were constructed by Qing dinasty with Flemish Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest:

  1. Chidao jingwei yi / 赤道经纬仪 - Equatorial armillary sphere
  2. Huangao jingwei yi / 黄道经纬仪 - Ecliptic armillary sphere
  3. Tianti yi / 天体仪 - Celestial Sphere
  4. Diping jingyi / 地平经仪 - Azimuthal ring
  5. Xiangxian yi / 象限仪 - Quadrant
  6. Hushi yi/ 弧矢仪 - Sextant
  7. Diuping jingwei yi / 地平经纬仪, - Azimuth quadrant
  8. Jiheng fucheng yi / 玑衡抚辰仪 - Pacifying luminaries.

The ancient observatory is one of the oldest observatories around the world. Observation, identification and registration of celestial objects allow Chinese culture to develop a proper knowledge of Sky mechanics, instrumentation building, and Astronomy applications.

I think ancestral places where people developed basis for Science can contribute for unique experiences of each passionate Astronomer.

It was such an amazing day and I learned many things!

Regards,
Gabriel Andres Jaimes Illanes
0 comments
2 views

Permalink