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Preface
East Asian Archaeoastronomy: Historical Records of Astronomical Observations of China, Japan and Korea, Volume 1, was published in the fall of 2000 and was well received. As one reviewer remarked,
Our knowledge of the complexity of the development of astronomy in Asian cultures seems to grow each year as more texts are translated and researchers cross linguistic and social barriers to share their work. This volume will provide an invaluable resource for scholars working primarily in English who wish to open the door to such understanding further.
––Steven Renshaw, 2002, Isis, 2, pp. 296–297
Since Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9’s spectacular bombardment of Jupiter in July 1994, astronomers have devoted increasing attention to the risks of objects entering the inner solar system at irregular intervals—so-called near-earth objects (NEOs) and fast-moving objects (FMOs). These include comets, meteors, and asteroids, mainly debris left over from the formation of the solar system.