Astronomical Phenomenon Records from Sukjong's Chunbang-Ilgi

We investigate the astronomical phenomenon records of Sukjong's Chunbang-Ilgi made by Sigangwon (Royal Educational Office of the Crown Prince) at which King Sukjong was the crown prince (i.e., 1667 January 24-1674 September 22). From the daily records of 2,799 days, we extract the astronomical records of 1,443 days and classify them into 14 categories. Then, we group the records of each category into five phenomena (Atmosphere, Eclipse, Daylight Appearance, Apparition, and Appulse) and compare them with the results of modern astronomical computations wherever possible. Except for Atmosphere group comprising records of meteorological events, such as solar halo, lunar halo, and unusual clouds, the significant findings in every other group are as follows: In Eclipse group, the solar eclipse that occurred on 1673 August 12 was unobservable in Korea, which is in contrast to the record of Joseonwangjo-Sillok (Annals of the Joseon Dynasty), which states that the sun was in eclipse around sunset time, as observed at Nam mountain. From the lunar eclipse records, we verify that the Joseon court did not change the date of the events observed after midnight. In Daylight Appearance group, we confirm that this phenomenon was observed during the daytime and not during twilight. We further suggest that if observation conditions are met, a celestial body brighter than -2.3 mag could be seen during the daytime with the naked-eye. In Apparition group, we find the possibilities that the Orionid meteor shower had influence on the meteor records and the seasonality on the aurora records. We also find that the Korean records in which the coma of comet C/1668 E1 was located below the horizon were overlooked in previous studies. Finally, we find that the records of Appulse group generally agree with the results of modern calculations. The records of Beom (trespass in literal) and Sik (eating in literal) events show average angular separations of 1.2 degrees and 1.0 degrees, respectively. In conclusion, we believe this work helps study the astronomical records of other logs of Sigangwon, such as Sunjong's Chunbang-Ilgi.