What is the unknown “star” or “∼star” recorded in Korean historical books?

Abstract

This study discusses historical records of Korea that mention “stars” possibly related to astronomical transient events. We selected 19 such records and scrutinized them by cross-checking with records of other countries to identify those events. Ten events were identified as comets based on their described motions and tails. We further confirmed this by comparing them with records from other countries. Five events were classified as meteors based on descriptions of their movements, sizes, and shapes. We speculate that two recordings about “big stars” (大星) are typographical errors for “Mars” (火星), as the descriptions of these big stars seem to be consistent with the properties of the latter. This leaves two unidentified events, and we search lists of astronomical transients for their counterparts. Our work emphasizes the uncertainties and challenges caused by the limited information in the historical records while exploring the usefulness of historical records to enhance the understanding of astrophysical transient events.