实测与历法推算：中国古代行星运动记录研究

There are a large number of planetary movement records in ancient China.They have been very useful in researching the long-term change of the rotation of the earth and other celestial mechanics questions, and useful in estimating the reliability of calendars and astronomical softwares. Most astronomers and historians of astronomy believe that these records are real observations made by ancient astronomical officials. But in recent years, some historians of science suppose that some ancient Chinese planetary observations might be fabricated for political purposes, which is a very productive argument. .In fact, with the astronomical observational techniques and the calendars progressing in China, the ancient Chinese have developed some calendric methods to calculate the past celestial phenomena and to predict the future ones. We have found some evidence that shows some of the ancient Chinese planetary movement records are the results of calendric calculations, rather than real observations or fabrications. In this study, we would use modern astronomical and historical methods to test the reliability of the ancient records, and would calculate according to ancient calendars to find whether some of them are the results of calendric calculations rather than real observations. Based on this study, we could re-scrutinize the scientific and historical value of these records.

中国古代的行星运动记录非常丰富，其史料价值和科学价值一直为学界所广泛承认，这些历史记录在研究地球自转的长期变化等重大科学问题和评估历法、天象软件的可靠性等方面，发挥着重要的作用。长期以来，科学家和科学史家一直相信这些行星运动记录都是古代天文官的实际观测记录。不过近年来，一些天文史家提出，出于政治因素的考虑，部分天象记录，特别是部分行星运动记录有伪造的嫌疑。这是一个有启发的争议问题。.我们认为，随着中国古代天文观测的进步和历法水平的提高，古人有着一定的回推和预推天象的能力。我们发现，在中国古代行星运动记录中，有一部分记录，并非实际观测所得，但也并非彻头彻尾地作假，而是混入了一些历法预推或回推的结果。本项研究，将利用现代天文学方法和历史学方法，按照古代历法的算法，尝试辨别这些行星运动记录是否有历法推算的性质，并由此对这些记录的科学价值重新做出估计。