Historical eclipses and earth's rotation

Cover......Page 1
Historical eclipses and Earth\'s rotation......Page 6
Contents......Page 10
Principal Symbols......Page 16
1.1 Introduction......Page 18
1.3 First speculations on variations in the Earth\'s rate of rotation......Page 23
1.4 Discovery of the lunar secular acceleration......Page 25
1.8 The introduction of a theoretically invariant time-system......Page 40
1.9 Short-term fluctuations in the Earth\'s rotation......Page 43
1.10 The Julian and Gregorian calendars......Page 46
2.2 Evaluation of the lunar tidal acceleration on TT......Page 50
2.3 The constancy of the lunar tidal acceleration......Page 53
2.7 Conclusion......Page 59
3.2 Observational requirements for determining A......Page 60
3.9 Lunar eclipse observations and their reduction to AT......Page 99
4 Babylonian and Assyrian records of eclipses......Page 110
4.4 Historical background to the astronomical cuneiform texts......Page 122
4.5 Decipherment of the cuneiform texts......Page 125
4.8 Techniques used in dating observational tablets......Page 134
4.12 Assyrian records of solar and lunar eclipses......Page 141
5.1 Introduction......Page 145
5.3 Timed observations of solar eclipses......Page 148
5.4 Estimates of solar eclipse magnitude......Page 154
5.5 Solar eclipses occurring near sunrise or sunset......Page 158
5.6 A possible allusion to a total solar eclipse in the Babylonian......Page 160
5.7 Conclusion......Page 163
6.1 Introduction......Page 164
6.2 Lunar eclipses for which only a single contact measurement relative to sunrise or sunset is preserved......Page 168
6.3 Eclipses for which two contact measurements relative to sunrise or sunset are extant......Page 184
6.4 Three or four timings relative to sunrise or sunset preserved (total eclipses only)......Page 190
6.7 Conclusion......Page 207
7.1 Introduction......Page 210
7.2 Moon rising or setting eclipsed......Page 211
7.4 Conclusion......Page 228
8.1 Introduction......Page 230
8.2 Records of solar eclipses from the Shang dynasty......Page 232
8.9 Korea......Page 279
9.1 Introduction......Page 290
Yuan-shih......Page 310
II......Page 313
9.5 Azimuth measurements for lunar eclipses......Page 324
9.8 Moon rising or setting eclipsed......Page 335
9.10 Other records of lunar eclipses......Page 346
10.1 Introduction......Page 351
10.2 Solar eclipses analysed by Fotheringham......Page 353
10.4 Greek lunar eclipse observations recorded in Ptolemy\'s......Page 385
10 Records of eclipses in ancient European history......Page 350
11.2 Historical sources......Page 393
11.3 Chronological discussion......Page 395
11.4 Interpretation of observations of large solar eclipses......Page 398
11.7 Eclipses which were definitely partial, yet very large......Page 433
11.8 Detailed records which are deficient in some way......Page 439
11.9 Timed solar eclipse contacts......Page 444
11.10 An eighth century occultation of Jupiter by the eclipsed Moon......Page 445
12 Solar and lunar eclipses recorded in medieval Arab chronicles......Page 448
12.2 Chronicles and chroniclers......Page 449
12.3 Date conversion......Page 451
12.4 Records of total and near-total solar eclipses......Page 455
12.5 Other records of large solar eclipses......Page 460
12.7 Moon eclipsed near moonrise or moonset......Page 467
12.8 Selected records of total lunar eclipses......Page 469
12.10 Appendix: Arab chronicles consulted......Page 471
13 Observations of eclipses by medieval Arab astronomers......Page 473
13.3 Motives for observation......Page 475
13.5 Observational techniques......Page 480
13.7 Solar eclipse times recorded by Ibn Yunus......Page 485
Fig. 13.5 Arabic text of eclipse records of AD 993 Aug 20 (solar), 1001 Sep 5/6 (lunar), 1002 Mar 1/2 (lunar) and 1004 Jan 24 (s......Page 486
13.8 Lunar eclipse times recorded by Ibn Yunus......Page 493
13.9 Solar and lunar eclipse timings recorded by al-Battani and al-Biruni......Page 505
13.10 Solar magnitude estimates......Page 511
13.11 Rising and setting phenomena......Page 513
13.12 Conclusion......Page 516
14.1 Introduction......Page 518
14.2 Timed and untimed observations......Page 519
14.4 Constant non-tidal component......Page 523
14.5 Variable non-tidal component......Page 526
14.6 Further discussion of timed observations......Page 528
14.8 Geophysical discussion......Page 533
Appendix A Timed data......Page 534
Appendix B Untimed data......Page 541
143,......Page 544
240,......Page 545
265,......Page 546
251,......Page 547
225,......Page 548
157,......Page 549
173,......Page 550
125,......Page 551
331,......Page 552
276,......Page 553
276,......Page 554
303,......Page 555
Acknowledgements......Page 556
Index of eclipse records......Page 557
Index of places of observation......Page 566
Name index......Page 568
Subject index......Page 571