2015-07-19
The Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs have announced that a star chart discovered in ancient Asuka in the country’s Nara Prefecture, is based on much older celestial observations made in China, The Asah Shimbun has reported. The star chart was discovered in the Kitora Tomb in Asuka village in 1998, a site dated from the late 7th century to early 8th century, making it the oldest existing star map of its kind in the world.
It features 68 constellations in which the stars are depicted using gold discs. The movement of celestial objects is also represented in the form of three concentric circles with another circle depicting the movement of the sun. The Polar Star is depicted at the center.
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