Artigo Acesso aberto Revisado por pares

Family of the Sun-and-Stars Time-Determining Instruments (Ilseong-jeongsi-ui) Invented During the Joseon Dynasty

2016; Korean Space Science Society (KSSS); Volume: 33; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5140/jass.2016.33.3.237

ISSN

2093-5587

Autores

Yong Sam Lee, Sang Hyuk Kim, Byeong‐Hee Mihn,

Tópico(s)

Historical Astronomy and Related Studies

Resumo

We analyze the design and specifications of the Sun-and-Stars Time-Determining group of instruments (Ilseong-jeongsi-ui, 日星定時儀) made during the Joseon dynasty. According to the records of the Sejong Sillok (Veritable Records of King Sejong), Sun-and-Stars Time-Determining Instruments measure the solar time of day and the sidereal time of night through three rings and an alidade. One such instrument, the Simplified Time-Determining Instrument (So-jeongsi-ui, 小定時儀), is made without the essential component for alignment with the celestial north pole. Among this group of instruments, only two bronze Hundred-Interval-Ring Sundials (Baekgak-hwan-Ilgu, 百刻環日晷) currently exist. A comparison of the functions of these two relics with two Time-Determining Instruments suggests that the Hundred-Interval-Ring Sundial is a Simplified Sundial (So-ilyeong, 小日影), as recorded in the Sejong Sillok and the Seongjong Sillok (Veritable Records of King Seongjong). Furthermore, the Simplified Sundial is a model derived from the Simplified Time-Determining Instrument. During the King Sejong reign, the Sun-and-Stars Time-Determining Instruments were used in military camps of the kingdom's frontiers, in royal ancestral rituals, and in royal astronomical observatories.

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