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On the Totality of the Eclipse in AD 628 in the Nihongi

2004; Oxford University Press; Volume: 56; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/pasj/56.1.215

2053-051X

Kiyotaka Tanikawa, Mitsuru Sôma,

Historical Astronomy and Related Studies

It is widely accepted that the solar eclipse on AD 628 April 10 (the reign of Empress Suiko, 36th year, 3rd month, 2nd day) recorded in the Nihongi (日本書紀) was not total, but partial at the site of observation, though it is written as an exhausted eclipse. A contemporary Japanese occultation observation on AD 681 November 3 is also suspected as being a missing of Mars in the glaring light of the Moon. We suggest in this paper that both records in the Nihongi may be true. Several reasonings are put forward. We then point out the possibility that the value of $\Delta T$ at around AD 600 is about 2000 s which is far less than 4500 s, the value adopted by Stephenson (1997, Historical Eclipses and Earth’s Rotation). Lunar grazing occultation data are found to be very useful.