Solar Eclipse
日食
A long time ago, people noticed that the sun and the moon sometimes suddenly lost their brightness.People could not figure out the reason and feared that, once gone, the brightness would not return and would mean the end of the world.Because of this, the ancient Chinese began to observe solar and lunar eclipses, recording the time and size of the eclipse, and searching for the causes of eclipses.
很久以前，人们注意到太阳和月亮有时会突然间丧失光芒。人们找不出原因，害怕太阳和月亮光芒一去不返，世界末日来临。于是，中国古人开始观察日月食，记录日月食发生的时间、食分，探索产生日月食的原因。
Solar eclipses, especially total solar e-clipses, are eye-catching celestial events.As early as 3,000 years ago, the ancient Chinese people had made records on such astronomic phenomena. The earliest solar eclipse record that can be verified appears in The Classic of History (The Punitive Expedi-tion of Yin in Shang Shu) , about an eclipsetook place around 2043BC during the Xia Dynasty.
日食，尤其是日全食是最引人注目的天象之一。我国古人早在3000多年以前就对日食现象做了记载。最早的记载是《尚书·胤征》，据考证，这次日食大概发生于夏代仲康元年。
Excavated bone and tortoise shell inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty recorded five solar eclipses that took place beiween the 14th and 12th centuries BC.
在出土的商代甲骨卜辞中，被认定的日食纪事有5次。这是发生在公元前14世纪至12世纪之间的日食纪事。
In The Book of Son,gs , a solar eclipse was also recorded.It was verified that the solar eclipse took place on September 6, 776BC.
《诗经》中也有日食纪事。据考证，这次日食发生在公元前776年9月6日。
By the Han Dynasiy, records on solar eclipse were no longer limited to the time of an eclipse, but also covered the sun's position, the starting and ending times of eclipses, and the coverage size.
到了汉代，不仅有日食发生时间记录，还有对日食时的太阳位置、起止时刻、食分等的记录。
Statistics show that during the Spring and Autumn Period (770BC-446BC) a-lone, there were 37 solar eclipse records, among which 33 have been proven to be reliable. By the time of Emperor Gtianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1644～1911) , the total number of records had reached 1000. This number represents theworld's most complete solar eclipse record, which is of great value to the astro-nomic research.
据统计，仅春秋时代（770BC一446BC）记载的日食就有37次，其中33次已经被证明是完全可靠的。从春秋时代起到清代( 1644~1911)乾隆年间为止，我国记录了大约有1000次左右，算得上是世界上最完整的日食记录，对天文研究具有很大的价值。