Celestial Globe Research Articles

A Study for the Restoration of Hong Dae-Yong Honsangui - Focusing on the structure and operating mechanism -

Honsangui (celestial globe) which is a water-hammering method astronomical clock is recorded in "Juhaesuyong" which is Volume VI of supplement from "Damheonseo", written by Hong Dae-Yong (1731~1783). We made out the conceptual design of Hong Dae-Yong's Honsangui through the study on its structure and working mechanism. Honsangui consist of three rings and two layers, the structure of rings which correspond to outer layer is similar to his own Tongcheonui (armillary sphere) which is a kind of armillary sphere. Honsang sphere which correspond to inner layer depicts constellations and milky way and two beads hang on it as Sun and Moon respectively for realize the celestial motion. Tongcheonui is operated by the pendulum power but Honsangui is operated by water-hammering method mechanism. This Honsangui's working mechanism is the traditional way of Joseon and it was simplified the working mechanism of Shui y<TEX>$\ddot{u}$</TEX>n i hsiang t'ai which is a representative astronomical clock of China. This record of Honsangui is the only historical record about the water-hammering method working mechanism of Joseon Era and it provide the study of water-hammering method mechanism with a vital clue.

A mapping of an ensemble of mitochondrial sequences for various organisms into 3D space based on the word composition

To visualize a bird’s-eye view of an ensemble of mitochondrial genome sequences for various species, we recently developed a novel method of mapping a biological sequence ensemble into Three-Dimensional (3D) vector space. First, we represented a biological sequence of a species s by a word-composition vector x(s), where its length ∣x(s)∣represents the sequence length, and its unit vector x(s)/∣x(s)∣represents the relative composition of the K-tuple words through the sequence and the size of the dimension, N=4K, is the number of all possible words with the length of K. Second, we mapped the vector x(s) to the 3D position vector y(s), based on the two following simple principles: (1) ∣y(s)∣=∣x(s)∣and (2) the angle between y(s) and y(t) maximally correlates with the angle between x(s) and x(t). The mitochondrial genome sequences for 311 species, including 177 Animalia, 85 Fungi and 49 Green plants, were mapped into 3D space by using K=7. The mapping was successful because the angles between vectors before and after the mapping highly correlated with each other (correlation coefficients were 0.92–0.97). Interestingly, the Animalia kingdom is distributed along a single arc belt (just like the Milky Way on a Celestial Globe), and the Fungi and Green plant kingdoms are distributed in a similar arc belt. These two arc belts intersect at their respective middle regions and form a cross structure just like a jet aircraft fuselage and its wings. This new mapping method will allow researchers to intuitively interpret the visual information presented in the maps in a highly effective manner.

Structure and Conceptual Design of a Water-Hammering-Type Honsang for Restoration

We analyzed the manufacturing procedure, specifications, repair history, and details of celestial movements of the water-hammering type <TEX>$Honsang$</TEX> (celestial globe). Results from our study on the remaining <TEX>$Honsangs$</TEX> in China and Japan and on the reconstruction models in Korea were applied to our conceptual design of the water-hammering type <TEX>$Honsang$</TEX>. A <TEX>$Honui$</TEX> (armillary sphere) and <TEX>$Honsang$</TEX> using the water-hammering method were manufactured in <TEX>$Joseon$</TEX> in 1435 (the 17th year of King <TEX>$Sejong$</TEX>). <TEX>$Jang$</TEX> <TEX>$Yeong-Sil$</TEX> developed the <TEX>$Honsang$</TEX> system based on the water-operation method of <TEX>$Shui$</TEX> <TEX>$y{\ddot{u}}n$</TEX> <TEX>$i$</TEX> <TEX>$hsiang$</TEX> <TEX>$t'ai$</TEX> in China. Water-operation means driving water wheels using a water flow. The most important factor in this type of operation is the precision of the water clock and the control of the water wheel movement. The water-hammering type <TEX>$Honsang$</TEX> in <TEX>$Joseon$</TEX> probably adopted the <TEX>$Cheonhyeong$</TEX> (天衡; oriental escapement device) system of <TEX>$Shui$</TEX> <TEX>$y{\ddot{u}}n$</TEX> <TEX>$i$</TEX> <TEX>$hsiang$</TEX> <TEX>$t'ai$</TEX> in China and the overflow mechanism of <TEX>$Jagyeongnu$</TEX> (striking clepsydra) in <TEX>$Joseon$</TEX>, etc. In addition to the <TEX>$Cheonryun$</TEX> system, more gear instruments were needed to stage the rotation of the <TEX>$Honsang$</TEX> globe and the sun's movement. In this study, the water-hammering mechanism is analyzed in the structure of a water clock, a water wheel, the <TEX>$Cheonhyeong$</TEX> system, and the <TEX>$Giryun$</TEX> system, as an organically working operation mechanism. We expect that this study will serve as an essential basis for studies on <TEX>$Heumgyeonggaknu$</TEX>, the water-operating astronomical clock, and other astronomical clocks in the middle and latter parts of the <TEX>$Joseon$</TEX> dynasty.

Digital Representation of Historical Globes: Methods to Make 3D and Pseudo-3D Models of Sixteenth Century Mercator Globes

In this paper, the construction of digital representations of a terrestrial and celestial globe will be discussed. Virtual digital (3D) models play an important role in recent research and publications on cultural heritage. The globes discussed in this paper were made by Gerardus Mercator (1512–1594) in 1541 and 1551. Four techniques for the digital representation are discussed and analysed, all using high-resolution photographs of the globes. These photographs were taken under studio conditions in order to get equal lighting and to avoid unwanted light spots. These lighting conditions are important, since the globes have a highly reflective varnish covering. Processing these images using structure from motion, georeferencing of separate scenes and the combination of the photographs with terrestrial laser scanning data results in true 3D representations of the globes. Besides, pseudo-3D models of these globes were generated using dynamic imaging, which is an extensively used technique for visualisations over the Internet. The four techniques and the consequent results are compared on geometric and radiometric quality, with a special focus on their usefulness for distribution and visualisation during an exhibition in honour of the five hundredth birthday of Gerardus Mercator.

조선시대 간의대의 배치와 척도에 대한 추정

Since the thirteenth century, large scale facilities and various instruments for astronomical observation were built and installed in East Asia. During the Yuan Dynasty, S. ti.ntai (Beijing astronomical observatory in the Yuan Dynasty, 司天臺) was built in Beijing in 1279. Various astronomical instruments, including Ganui (Jianyi, simplified armillary sphere, 簡儀), Yang-yi (upward hemisphere, 仰儀) and Gyupyo (gnomon, 圭表) were installed in this observatory. These astronomical instruments were modified and improved by researchers of the Joseon Dynasty. Ganuidae (Joseon astronomical observatory, 簡儀臺) was built in Gyeongbokgung (or Gyeongbok palace, 景福宮), Seoul. Its scale was 31 Cheok (Korean feet in the Joseon Dynasty, 尺) in height, 47 Cheok in length and 32 Cheok in width. Lee, Cheon (李蕆, 1376~1451), a responsible leader of Ganuidae project, set up various astronomical instruments with his colleagues. Ganui and Jeongbangan (direction-determining board, 正方案) were installed at the top of this observatory. Gyupyo was installed at the west side of this observatory and Honui (armillary sphere, 渾儀) and Honsang (celestial globe, 渾象) were installed in a small pavilion which was located next to Gyupyo. A decade after installation, this observatory was moved to the north-west side of the palace but almost destroyed during Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592 except Ganuidae. We have analyzed documents about Ganuidae and investigated Chinese remains of astronomical observatories and artifacts of astronomical instruments. In this paper, we suggest the appearance, structure, arrangement and scale of Ganuidae, which are expected to be used for the restoration of Ganuidae at some day in the near future.

Caspar Vopel's Ventures in Sixteenth-Century Celestial Cartography

ABSTRACT This paper concerns the undertakings in celestial cartography of the sixteenth-century Cologne cartographer Caspar Vopel. Copies of his printed celestial globe and of the celestial maps included on his world map are also described. Vopel's celestial mappings display his extraordinary interest in astronomical myths through a series of conspicuous iconographic features. In particular, Vopel's introduction of the images of Antinous and Coma Berenices is revealed to have been inspired by a humanist edition of the Ptolemaic star catalogue. Finally, a study of the celestial maps on the copies of Vopel's world map by Valvassore (1558) and by Van den Putte (1570) shows that these represent different editions of Vopel's world map and that the celestial maps on the world map of Matteo Pagano were in turn copied from those on the world map of Valvassore.

The use of the Nelder-Mead Method in estimating projection parameters for globe photographs

A photo of a terrestrial or celestial globe can be handled as a map. The only hard issue is its projection: the so-called Tilted Perspective Projection, when the optical axis of the photo intersects the globe’s centre, is simplified to the Vertical Near-Side Perspective Projection. Georeferencing such a photo needs the exact parameters of the projections. These parameters depend on the position of the viewpoint of the camera.Several hundreds of globe photos had to be georeferenced during the Virtual Globes Museum project, which made it necessary to automate the calculation of the projection parameters. The author developed a program for this task, which uses the Nelder-Mead Method in order to find the optimum parameters when a set of control points are given as input.The Nelder-Mead method is a numerical algorithm for minimizing a function in a many-dimensional space. The function in the present application is the average error (i.e. the distance between the calculated and real position) of the control po...

A low-cost celestial globe for hands-on astronomy

A low-cost celestial globe is developed to support astronomical coordinate learning. It isused for demonstrating how stars are positioned and to analyse the motion of celestialbodies or diurnal motion. The model was implemented at a weekend astronomy campprovided for students from schools in the northeastern region of Thailand. A series ofactivities required the students to describe the position of celestial objects and their motiondue to the rotation of the Earth.

The Gold and Silver Lining: Shams Al-Dīn Muḥammad B. Mu'Ayyad Al-'Urḍī's Inlaid Celestial Globe (C. AD 1288) from the Ilkhanid Observatory at Marāgha

Currently held in Dresden, a brass celestial globe with gold and silver inlay is identifiable with the late thirteenth-century Ilkhanid observatory at Marāgha, in north-western Iran. This functional instrument is densely inscribed and illustrated, and is signed by the son of Mu'ayyad al-'Urḍī, one of Maragha's most renowned scientists. The style and accomplishment of the constellation images also places the object within the broader art history of inlaid metalwork decoration and design. Across the globe, certain textual information is highlighted clearly in inlaid metal, while other inscriptions are left “blind”—this system differentiates two programmes of identifying stars and constellations, one classical, the other Arabian.

Popularization of Astronomy: From Models of the Cosmos to Stargazing

“Raritaten- und Wunderkammern” of the Baroque period were a microscopic image of the macroscopic world, in which astronomical instruments, orreries and celestial globes played an important role. The Gottorf globe in the ducal castle in Schleswig (1664) and, much later, the Atwood sphere in Chicago (1913) allowed demonstration of star rising and setting for several people sitting inside. An improved version of this idea, a more sophisticated device, was the projection planetarium, invented by Zeiss of Jena and inaugurated in 1925 in Munich. The “Urania” had already opened in Berlin in 1888, showing the real sky from a public observatory, as well as giving theatrical performances about the origin and evolution of the universe. And, since 1909, visitors to Berlin’s Archenhold Observatory have enjoyed stargazing with its impressive “20-m-long” refractor. All these models and instruments were successfully used for the public understanding of science and astronomy, and always created a strong attraction.

Mechanism of "Man-nen dokei", a Historic Perpetual Chronometer (1st Report, Celestial Globe and Japanese Traditional Clock)

The “Man-nen dokei”, that literally means a clock that works for ten thousand years, is a historic perpetual chronometer that was built in 1851 by Hisashige Tanaka, who founded the predecessor of Toshiba Corporation. It has six multifunctional clock faces and is crowned with a celestial globe that shows the positions of the sun and the moon. It is said that “Man-nen dokei” is one of the best works in Japanese traditional clock. Recently, it has been disassembled and restored in a national project as a one of the most original symbols of Japanese manufacture, so we investigated the mechanism of the “Man-nen dokei” in cooperation with the project. This paper shows the mechanism of the celestial globe and the Japanese traditional clock which is the main part of the six clock faces. Especially, we focus on (1) the mechanism for simulating the motion of the sun and the moon throughout the year in the celestial globe and (2) the mechanism for the movement of the “warigoma”, the ten square pieces, which show the time in the old Japanese temporal hour system.

Mechanism of "Man-nen dokei", a Historic Perpetual Chronometer (2nd Report, Power Supply)

The “Man-nen dokei”, which is a historic perpetual chronometer, was made in 1851 by Hisashige Tanaka, who founded the predecessor of Toshiba Corporation. It has six multi-functional clock faces and a celestial globe. It is said that it runs for almost a year with just a single winding. Man-nen dokei was disassembled and restored in a national project. We investigated on the mechanism of Man-nen dokei in cooperation with this project. In this paper, we report on the mechanism of the power supply. As a result, from mechanism constitution of the power supply, we confirmed that maximum continual movable days of Man-nen dokei were approximately 225 days. But from the fusee steps and the double spring composition, it is thought that Hisashige's goal was to make it move for 1 year continually. The spring that generates the huge torque became necessary to make it move for 1 year, but it is assumed that the spring were wound just a little due to strength poverty of the wooden frame. Moreover, we think the composition of one fusee is a reasonable design to obtain necessary torque continuous operation with stability for 1 year, and the reason why Hisashige used composition of two fusees still remains to be unclear.

Englishing the Globe: Molyneux's Globes and Shakespeare's Theatrical Career

This essay suggests that the Lord Chamberlain’s Men’s decision to name their reconstructed playing space the Globe in 1599 may have been a response to mounting English enthusiasm for terrestrial and celestial globes that was stimulated by Emery Molyneux’s manufacture of the first pair of English globes in 1592. The essay surveys the history of early modern globe manufacture to offer some historical context for Molyneux’s cartographic work; it analyzes the cartographic semantics of his globes; it traces the impact of his globes on the cartographic literature of the period; and it suggests that England’s enthusiasm for globes influenced Shakespeare’s theatrical career in multiple ways.

Bathing all’antica: bathrooms in Genoese villas and palaces in the sixteenth century

An almost unknown characteristic of Genoese architecture in the sixteenth century is the extraordinary number of private baths in palaces or villas built by members of the local oligarchic society. These baths – still in part existing or documented in Rubens's Palazzi di Genova (Antwerp, 1622) – combine a bathing tub with a sweating bath, generally of octagonal shape. In architecture and decoration, Genoese baths recall antique prototypes, but at the same time, given the presence of numerous easterners in Genoa, a Turkish influence, both on the architecture and on the prevailing style of bathing, appears plausible. Several descriptions attest to the role of the Genoese bath – as in antiquity and in Islamic culture – as a place of social contacts, accessible not only for the family but also for distinguished guests. With regard to decorative furnishings, this article focuses on the famous bagno Grimaldi, built by Galeazzo Alessi, and its illumination by a crystal celestial globe, which conferred a cosmological dimension to the bath.

Alessandro Piccolomini and the First Printed Star Atlas (1540)

Celestial cartography has a long and interesting history. Before the sixteenth century, the stars were depicted in celestial globes, manuscripts and early printed books as individual constellations...

The Epoch of the Constellations on the Farnese Atlas and Their Origin in Hipparchus's Lost Catalogue

1. BACKGROUND The Farnese Atlas is a Roman statue depicting the Titan Atlas holding up a celestial globe that displays an accurate representation of the ancient Greek constellations (see Figures 1 and 2). This is the oldest surviving depiction of this set of the original Western constellations, and as such can be a valuable resource for studying their early development. The globe places the celestial fi gures against a grid of circles (including the celestial equator, the tropics, the colures, the ecliptic, the Arctic Circle, and the Antarctic Circle) that allows for the accurate positioning of the constellations. The positions shift with time due to precession, so the observed positions on the Farnese Atlas correspond to some particular date. Also, the declination of the Arctic and Antarctic Circles will correspond to a particular latitude for the observer whose observations were adopted by the sculptor. Thus, a detailed analysis of the globe will reveal the latitude and epoch for the observations incorporated in the Atlas; and indeed these will specify enough information that we can identify the observer. Independently, a detailed comparison of the constellation symbols on the Atlas with those from the other surviving ancient material also uniquely points to the same origin for the fi gures. The Farnese Atlas 1 fi rst came to modern attention in the early sixteenth century when it became part of the collection of antiquities in the Farnese Palace in Rome, hence its name. The statue was later transferred to the museum in Naples now called the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. It is carved in white marble and depicts the bearded Atlas crouched down on one knee with a cloak over his shoulder and holding the celestial globe on his shoulder with both hands. The globe is 65cm in diameter. Its top has a substantial hole knocked into it and this has obliterated the constellations of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. A total of 41 constellations 2 are depicted, each drawn in positive relief as the classical fi gure, with no individual stars shown. Art historians conclude that the statue is a Roman copy from the second century A.D. of a Greek original dating to before the birth of Christ. 3 What is the date of the observations used for depicting the constellation positions on the Farnese Atlas? A very wide range of plausible answers is possible. First, the Roman sculptor could have updated the constellation positions with his own observations (or those of a contemporary), hence suggesting a date of c. 150 A.D. Second, the Roman sculptor could have used the latest star catalogue to place the constellations accurately onto the coordinate grid of the sky, and this would be from the Almagest of Ptolemy,

1003 万年時計の機構解明 その1 : 和時計(S91-1 機械技術史・工学史(1),S91 機械技術史・工学史)

Man-Nen Dokei was made by Hisashige Tanaka, who is a founder of Toshiba Corporation, at 1951. It has six multi-functional faces and is crowned with the celestial globe. A national project has been conducted to disassembled and restored in a national project. We have investigated on the mechanism of Man-Nen Dokei in cooperation with this project. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the mechanism and the design concept of the Wadokei, the Japanese traditional clock, which is the highlight of the Man-Nen Dokei. It has been clarified that the movement of "warigoma", square pieces indicating Japanese traditional time, is correspondent to the result from the real movement of the sun.

The Instruments from Parramatta Observatory

Sydney Observatory, Australia's oldest existing observatory, was built in 1858 on what is now called Observatory Hill. With such a long continuous history the Observatory has a good collection of astronomical instruments relating to its own history. Moreover, the collection extends further back to Parramatta Observatory, set up in 1821 by Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane. After the closure of that observatory in 1847 its instruments were retained in the colony and given to the fledgling Sydney Observatory on its establishment.Instruments from Paramatta on display at Sydney Observatory include a brass repeating circle by the eminent Munich instrument makers Reichenbach, Utzschneider and Liebherr, a Troughton transit telescope, an equatorial telescope by Banks and a 1791 celestial globe. There is also an astronomical regulator by Hardy. Brisbane acquired some of these instruments for his previous observatory in Scotland while some were obtained specifically for his Australian observatory. This paper discusses the use of these instruments at Parramatta and their subsequent fate at Sydney Observatory.

A Rediscovered Autograph Manuscript by Mordekay Finzi

An autograph Hebrew manuscript written by the Italian scholar Mordekay ben Avraham Finzi (Bologna, early fifteenth century-Mantua 1475), long regarded as lost, is described. A short note on this codex was published at the end of the nineteenth century; then the manuscript was bought by the orientalist Leone Caetani and donated to the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome (where it is presently MS Or. 259). For unknown reasons, the codex is not listed in the general inventory of Accademia dei Lincei oriental manuscripts, published in 1926. The codex contains Hebrew versions of: Euclid's Elements , Books I-VII; Avraham Ibn Ezra's Book of the Astrolabe ; Ibn al-Ṣaffār's Illustration of the Astrolabe by the Scholar Ptolemy ; Ibn al-Zarqāllu's Epistle on the Construction of the Plate Called ṣafīḥah; Qusṭā Ibn Lūqā's Book on the Construction of the Celestial Globe ; and several anonymous or pseudonymous texts about the construction of astrolabes, spheres, sundials, and quadrants.

A study on ancient Chinese time laws and the time-telling system of Su Song's clock tower

The ancient Chinese time laws showed a historical progress about how people started to recognize time and use time-keeping instruments. Dividing the celestial sphere into 12 sections and the indicator-arrow's scale of the clepsydra into one hundred parts established an equal time concept, which was a guide to divide a day into several equal parts. This also provided an objective condition for the development of astronomical clock in ancient China. Su Song and Han Gong-Lian built a clock tower ( Water-Powered Armillary Sphere and Celestial Globe) in 1088 A.D. during the Northern Song Dynasty. This was the greatest achievement of the development of astronomical clock in ancient China. The time-telling system of Su Song's clock tower was composed of the day and night time-keeping wheel and the five-storey wooden pagoda. By the use of concrete image and sound, it was to present three different time laws during that period, which were the Duodecimal Time Law, the Clepsydra Time Law and the Geng Dian Time Law. This outstanding mechanical structure included four types of percussion instruments (large bell, drum, small bell, and gong), four striking wooden puppets with active arms, and 158 time-reporting wooden puppets wearing particular signs and three variant colored clothes (scarlet, purple, and green). Multi-cam striking mechanism perfectly worked and created correspondent musical interaction between image and sound within each storey of the five-storey wooden pagoda. It was regarded as a clever engineering design with great scientific and artistic value.