Earliest sure record of Halley's Comet
Chinese chroniclers log it in the youth of the First Emperor
Chinese chronicles preserved in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian note a comet in 240 BC, the first reliable sighting of Halley's Comet. The state of Qin was then ruled by young Ying Zheng, the future First Emperor.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 3rd century BC
Did you know
Around 240 BC, Eratosthenes measured the Earth's circumference in Egypt, while Chinese chroniclers made the first sure record of Halley's Comet.
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 218 BC Hannibal crosses the Alps — 22 years later
- 216 BC Battle of Cannae — 24 years later
Alive at the time
- Archimedes (aged 47)
- Qin Shi Huang (aged 19)
- Hannibal (aged 7)
- Ashoka (aged 64)
- Eratosthenes (aged 36)
- Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu of Han) (aged 16)
- Empress Lü (Lü Zhi) (aged 1)