Wābkanawī’s Calculations of the Annular Solar Eclipse of 30 Jan 1283 A.D./ 29 shawwāl 681 A. H.

Subject Areas : The Journal of Islamic History and Civilisation

سید محمد مظفری ¹ (ندارد)

Received: 2012-06-09 Accepted : 2012-08-15 Published : 2012-08-22

Keywords: Annular Eclipse, Apparent Angular Diameter, Parallax, Maragha Astronomical Tradition, Shams al-Dīn Muhammad al-&#x0D, &#x0D, Wā, Zīj al-Muhakik al-Sulţānī,

Abstract :

The paper presents a critical review of the iterative process used byShams al-Dīn Muhammad al-Wābkanawī (Iran, Maragha, ca. 1260–1320) in order to compute the parameters of the annular solar eclipseof 30 January 1283 from the solar and lunar parameters obtained byMuhyī al-Dīn al-Maghribī (Maragha 1260–1274). Due to theimpossibility of the annular eclipse in the Ptolemaic tradition, theposition of this prediction in the context of medieval astronomy shallalso be shortly discussed. Furthermore, since Wābkanawī calls hisobservation as an evidence for the correctness of his prediction, thecomputed results have been compared with the true modern data,which established a remarkable agreement between them.