 放大圖片
在1900年，一名居於敦煌莫高窟的道士王圓籙，無意中在現編號第16的石窟內發現隱蔽的「藏經洞」，洞內庫藏5萬多件從4世紀到11世紀(即十六國到北宋)的歷代文書和畫軸、刺繡等文物。可惜的是，他把約9,000多件貴重文物，以賤價售予考古學家斯坦因和漢學家伯希和，其中包括存世最古老的雕板印刷品─《金剛般若波羅蜜經》和最早完整天圖─敦煌星圖。
現藏於大英圖書館的敦煌星圖約繪於公元649至684年間。整幅星圖長約4米。星圖採用兩種投影方法繪製而成，地平部分以圓柱投影法繪製(比西方早1000年)，天極區則用極投影法繪成。星圖準確記錄1300多顆恒星的方位及由這些恒星所組成的257個中國星宿。上圖顯示星圖的北極區，當中我們熟悉的北斗七星更是明顯易辨。
The Dunhuang Star Chart
At around 1900, a poor Taoist priest, Wang Yuanlu, accidentally discovered a treasury of manuscripts that was hidden inside a sealed chamber in one of the Dunhuang Mogao Grotto caves. He sold most of these manuscripts(over 9000 objects)to Aurel Stein(archaeologist)and Paul Pelliot(French sinologist). Among those manuscripts were the oldest printed text-The Diamond Sutra and the oldest complete star map-The Dunhuang Star Chart.
The Dunhuang Star Chart, which is housed at the British Library, is a four-metre scroll hand drawn at around 649-684 A.D. The star positions are displayed in two different ways. The horizontal asterisms were drawn in cylindrical projection while the polar region in circular polar projection. The map recorded some 1300 stars representing 257 Chinese star groups. The picture above is part of the Star Map. The Big Dipper can easily be discerned. ■甄枝強 資深天文愛好者
|
放大圖片
