Lunar eclipse of April 9th ​​731 BC Chr.

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Course of the lunar eclipse in the time scale TT, which is independent of the time correction ΔT (source: NASA )

The observation details of the lunar eclipse of April 9, 731 BC. BC (−730 according to the astronomical calendar ) were recorded on a cuneiform tablet by a Babylonian astronomer . The record belonging to the genre of the ACT texts is currently in the British Museum in London and bears the museum number BM 32238. April 9, 731 BC, indicated in the Julian calendar system . When converted to the current Gregorian calendar , BC corresponds to April 1, 731 BC. Chr.

This record gained particular importance through its reference to the Babylonian king Nabu-mukin-zeri . The lunar eclipse could not be observed directly in Babylonia because it took place there from morning to noon. The Babylonian astronomers therefore calculated the probable time of the eclipse based on their experience. This cuneiform report of a lunar eclipse is also the oldest surviving document of a lunar eclipse record, which contained temporal details of the course of the lunar eclipse and was unequivocally datable. In North America , the lunar eclipse could be followed shortly after midnight ; there it ended in the morning hours of April 9th.

First translations

The Assyriologist Johann Strassmaier and the astronomers Josef Epping and Franz-Xaver Kugler first began to translate the Babylonian-astronomical cuneiform text.

The outstanding research achievements of the time were continued by Otto Neugebauer , among others . In 1955 the three-volume standard work Astronomical cuneiform Texts - Babylonian ephemerides of the Seleucid period for the motion of the sun, the moon, and the planets , which still forms the basis of Babylonian astronomical history to this day, was published.

Babylonian text BM 32238 (LBAT 1414)

The astronomical event mentioned was a partial lunar eclipse , which had to be dated precisely based on the information in the cuneiform text. By checking with other historical eclipses, it was found that the historical dates deviate from the back-calculated values. The corresponding time difference is referred to as " ΔT ".

Taking into account the ΔT, the lunar eclipse in Babylonia began around 9:55 a.m. on April 9  , 731 BC. And reached its maximum at around 12:15 pm. The extrapolation shows great accuracy regarding the actual occurrence of the lunar eclipse:

"Ukin-zer (Nabu-mukin-zeri) 1st year: first month (Nisannu) , [moon darkened] ... fit (sa-DIB). (Start) 60 UŠ (60 deg; about 240 minutes) after sunrise . "

- BM 32238 (LBAT 1414)

Other lunar eclipses narrated in Babylonian cuneiform notes

See also

literature

  • Josef Epping and Johann-Nepomuk Strassmeier: Astronomical things from Babylon or the Chaldeans' knowledge of the starry sky . Herder, Freiburg 1889, ( parts from Maria-Laach supplementary books 44).
  • Franz-Xaver Kugler : astronomy and star service in Babel . Volume 1: Development of Babylonian Planetary Studies from its Beginnings to Christ. According to mostly unpublished sources from the British Museum . Aschendorff, Münster 1907.
  • Otto Neugebauer : The exact sciences in antiquity . Unabridged, slightly corrected reprint of the 2nd edition, Brown University Press, 1957. Dover Publications, New York NY 2004, ISBN 0-486-22332-9 , ( Dover classics of science and mathematics ).
  • Otto Neugebauer (Ed.): Astronomical cuneiform Texts. Babylonian ephemerides of the Seleucid period for the motion of the sun, the moon, and the planets . Reprint edition. 3 volumes. Springer, New York NY et al. 1983, ISBN 0-387-90812-9 ( Sources in the history of mathematics and physical sciences 5), (the original edition appeared: Humphries, London 1955).
  • Abraham J. Sachs: Astronomical Diaries and related Texts from Babylonia . Volume 5: Hermann Hunger (Ed.): Lunar and Planetary Texts . Including materials by Abraham J. Sachs. With an appendix by John M. Steele. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-7001-3028-7 ( Austrian Academy of Sciences - Philosophical-Historical Class - Memoranda 299).
  • Francis Richard Stephenson : Historical Eclipses and Earth's rotation . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1997, ISBN 0-521-46194-4 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c Date in the Julian calendar ; in the Gregorian calendar , eight days are subtracted from the Julian date. The date is based on the NASA information ( Memento from November 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) taking into account the T-Delta. For Babylonia, the time zone surcharge of 2 hours and 30 minutes must be taken into account compared to Universal Time (UT); according to Jean Meeus : Astronomical Algorithms - Applications for Ephemeris Tool 4,5 - , Barth, Leipzig 2000 for: Ephemeris Tool 4,5 according to Jean Meeus, conversion program, 2001 .
  2. ^ Hermann Hunger: Lunar and Planetary Texts . P. 395.
  3. ^ Francis Richard Stephenson: Historical Eclipses and Earth's rotation . P. 147.
  4. ↑ 5 hours and 46 minutes.
  5. ↑ The sunrise occurred at around 5:49 a.m. local time.
  6. ↑ L ate B abylonian A stronomical T exts.
  7. ^ Francis Richard Stephenson: Historical Eclipses and Earth's rotation . P. 122.