Dunhuang Star Chart
Mapa estelar de Dunhuang
- Date
- c. 650-700 · confidence medium
- Place
- Dunhuang, Gansu, China
- Credited to
- Tang astronomers (copy of Li Chunfeng or his school)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
A paper scroll with more than 1300 stars in 257 asterisms, drawn in strips using an almost cylindrical projection and a polar map. It is the oldest surviving complete star atlas of any civilisation.
Found in the Mogao library cave and held at the British Library (Or.8210/S.3326).
What it led to
- celestial cartography by projection