| Chapter 1: | Comets |
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Occasionally, reign periods commemorate astrological omens as, for example, in 134 BC when the Yuanguang “Primal Brilliance” reign period was inaugurated to mark the appearance of a spectacular comet the preceding year and also in AD 1056 when the Jiayou “Auspicious Aid” reign period was initiated to mark the appearance—and especially the disappearance nearly 2 years later—of the supernova of 1054, progenitor of the Crab Nebula. The Japanese later followed this practice of restarting year counts with the beginning of each reign period; though the Koreans did not, so that in the Korean case, year counts refer to the year of accession.
In contrast to other compilations of this kind, the authors provide the original classical Chinese text for every observational record translated. Readers who are so inclined may consult the original language. We strove to be as faithful as possible to the plain meaning of the original sources, and we welcome comments on the translations. We have endeavored to be as thorough as possible in culling the observational reports from a wide array of primary sources, including standard histories, local gazetteers, and private writings. To our knowledge, no comparable catalog of meteor shower observations exists in translation. In the case of the cometary apparitions, although many have been published in the past, there are gaps in the record and a rigorous distinction has not always been made between comets and supernovae, the latter also often denoted by the term guest star. For convenience, we provide cross-references to the translations in Ho (1962), Ho and Ang (1970), and Ahn (2004). In every case, we have checked the primary source, retranslated the record, and made note of errors or omissions we detected.
1.3. Modern Applications of Cometary Records
During the past few decades, an accumulation of evidence has made it abundantly clear that impacts by NEOs have played a major role in shaping the history of the Earth.