Divination by Astrological and Meteorological Phenomena

The Divination by Astrological and Meteorological Phenomena (Chinese: 天文氣象雜占; pinyin: Tiān Wén Qì Xiàng Zá Zhàn), also known as Book of Silk is an ancient astronomy silk manuscript compiled by Chinese astronomers of the Western Han dynasty (202 BC – 9 AD) and found in the Mawangdui of Changsha, Hunan, China in 1973.

It lists 29 comets (referred to as 彗星, huì xīng, literally broom stars) that appeared over a period of about 300 years.

[2] The Divination by Astrological and Meteorological Phenomena contains what archaeologists claim is the first definitive atlas of comets.

Each comet's picture has a caption which describes an event its appearance corresponded to, such as "the death of the prince", "the coming of the plague", or "the three-year drought."

Bob Kobres, in a 1992 paper, contends that the swastika-like comet on the Han-dynasty manuscript was labelled a "long tailed pheasant star" (dixing) because of its resemblance to a bird's foot or footprint.

Detail of Han Silk "Comet diagram" from the Divination by Astrological and Meteorological Phenomena . In divination, those comets were thought to be the sign of epidemics of warfare and plague. [ 1 ]