Gaocheng Astronomical Observatory
| Gaocheng Astronomical Observatory | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 登封观星台 | ||||||
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| Literal meaning | Gaocheng Astronomical Observatory | ||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Dēngfēng guānxīngtái |
Gaocheng Astronomical Observatory, also known as the Dengfeng Observatory, is a World Heritage Site in Duke of Zhou's shrine, Gaocheng Town, near Dengfeng in Henan province, China. This site has a long tradition of astronomical observations, from the time of the Western Zhou up to the early Yuan dynasty. There is also a gnomon used for the Da Yan calendar in 729 AD and the great observatory of the Yuan Dynasty.
It is believed that the Duke of Zhou (c. 1042 BC) had erected at this place a Ceyingtai (observatory measuring the shade or gnomon) to observe the Sun. His interest in mathematics, astronomy/astrology is reported in the Zhoubi Suanjing.
The astronomer Yi Xing (683–727) of the Tang Dynasty built 20 standardized gnomons spread out over China to measure the equation of time dependent on the geographical location. Following a proposition of Liu Zhuo from 604 AD, 10 of these were aligned along the meridian 114° east of Greenwich from Central Asia down to Vietnam in order to determine the circumference of the Earth and derivations from a perfect sphere. One of these 10 observatories was situated at Gaocheng. The observations were used to establish the Da Yan calendar.
South of the observatory, in the temple dedicated to Zhou Gong can be found a Shigui chart made by Yi Xing. According to the Zhou Li (Rites of Zhou) this place is the center of the Earth.
The great observatory was built in 1276 in the early Yuan dynasty on the order of Kublai Khan and was used by Guo Shoujing (1231–c.1215) and Wang Xun (1235–1281) to observe the movement of the sun, the stars and record time.
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