China also compiled a huge amount of records on meteoric showers. The Bamboo Annals records a meteoric shower in 2133 BC in today'sHenan Province. This is the first mention in the world of a meteoric shower.
Meteorites, both of iron and of stone, often fall to the earth, and this was noticed by the ancient Chinese. Song Yingxing, a scientist of the late Ming period, once said, "When stars fall to the earth, they become stones." Shen Kuo, a scientist of the Song Dynasty, observed three meteoric explosions one evening in 1064, and described in detail an incident of meteorites falling into the gardenof a farmer inJiangsu Provincein his book Dream Stream Essays.
During theSpring and Autumn Period, some 2,200 years ago, Chinese documents already had entries on what later came to be known as Halley's Comet. The record of the comet, which appeared in 613 BC, inSpring and Autumn Annalsis recognized as the earliest mention of Halley's Comet in the world.
The scientific and technological achievements of theWarring States Period(475-221 BC) are very impressive. The various feudal states all had their own court astronomers. The most famous among them -- Gan De of the State of Chu and Shi Shen of the State of Wei -- together wrote The Gan and Shi Book of the Stars, which accurately record the positions of 120 stars, constituting the world's earliest star chart. The lid of a lacquer chest of the Warring States Period unearthed inSuizhou,Hebei Province, has a list of the 28 constellations, China's earliest record of the entire list of the constellations.
Novas and supernovas are all variable stars created by nova outbursts. During an outburst, the brightness of a nova may increase during a matter of a few days by several thousand or even dozens of thousands of times. Then it will gradually dim, to eventually return to its original brightness after several or dozens of years. Outbursts of supernovas are on an even grander scale, increasing their brightness by up to hundreds of millions of times.
Many records in ancient China on happenings of the stars were the most accurate and complete in the world. In terms of data, they held the highest rate of application. It is entirely beyond the imagination of ancient astronomers that their records could serve modern scientific studies. In future along with further developments in science, these ancient records may well prove to be of even greater values.
The period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries was an important stage in the development of culture and science in China, as many outstanding scientists emerged.Zu Chongzhi(420-589) made outstanding contributions to mathematics, astronomy and machine building. In astronomy, the Daming Calendar he worked out was China's most advanced calendar of his era. After observations and studies, he concluded that a year lasted exactly 365.24281481 days which was only 46 seconds different from the modern estimate. In order to commemorate Zu's outstanding contributions to science, a mountain on the moon has been named after him.
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