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F67r, Voynich Manuscript. Credit: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

I suggest it represents a solar eclipse, to be precise the eclipse that occurred on 10th May 1054 in Southern China. In Northern China only a partial eclipse would have occurred and as this was the capital and home of the Emperor this was the most relevant, but sometimes reports were brought back from outlying provinces and it would be one such report that is of relevance here. I suggest that at the time of the eclipse the supernova had already occurred or was in an unstable brightening stage prior to the explosion and under the conditions of the total eclipse was visible during this time. There are varying reports about when the supernova was first seen and is not a new theory, but I am putting this possibility in the context of the Voynich Manuscript and suggesting that this is what is recorded in it whether by actual recorded sighting information from China, or based on incorrect speculation from China, as passed into Europe during the 16th century. I also connect this event to f57v and suggest it records the same event.

For the purpose of selecting a location for the astronomy software I chose "Guiyang" as an example of a location in the area of the total eclipse. The image above of f67r shows the main markers on the page and I suggest this may correspond to the total eclipse, as seen in central China 10th May 1054 AD. The sky map below shows a general true sky image of the sky during the eclipse, indicating SN 1054, the planets and bright stars that would have been visible. Visual magnitude for stars set at +5, the galactic equator has been included to indicate the Milky Way.

Credit: Redshift6. 10/5/1054 AD, Central China. Overlay by P. Han, showing SN 1054 and details of the eclipse with true sky colour.

The image of f67r below shows all the markers and how they compare to the sky map. Given that this information would be from ancient records taken at the time of an eclipse, i.e., very few visible celestial objects to measure and compare things to, unlike a dark night sky. I suggest the main markers on f67r run through the eclipse to the west and from the eclipse to SN 1054, the Celestial Meridian and Celestial Equator are indicated, along with the North Pole and the vertical.

f67r, cropped, Voynich Manuscript. Credit: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Overlay by P. Han, showing all known markers compared to sky map of total eclipse of 10/5/1054 AD, Central China. Horizon is not a marker but added for orientation.

Overlaying the markers (yellow and red lines) from f67r on top of the sky map the eclipse, SN 1054 and the west line up pretty well. The Celestial Equator and Celestial Meridian are slightly skewed, throwing off the position of the Celestial North Pole in f67r. The overlay of f67r markers shows the possible position the North Pole and certain stars would have on f67r.

Credit: Redshift6. 10/5/1054 AD, Central China. Overlay by P. Han, showing the possible position the North Pole and certain stars would have on f67r.

The actual stars in the area are shown below, but would not be visible during the eclipse except for the brightest few.

Credit: Redshift6. Total eclipse (not true sky colour). 10/5/1054 AD, Central China.

When the markers (yellow and red lines) from f67r are laid over a North Celestial Pole centred Chinese style sky map, when the eclipse and SN 1054 are lined up with the markers, the NCP also lines up well with the markers. This again suggests the use of a mix of European and Chinese astronomy and the skewed effect of the actual Celestial lines and star positions on f67r may be due to this attempt to marry the information from two different astronomy systems together.

Credit: Redshift6. 10/5/1054 AD, Central China. Overlay by P. Han, markers (yellow and red lines) from f67r laid over a Chinese style sky map centring around the North Pole.

The image on the page is not as clear as for some of the other pages. It has been suggested for a number of years by various people that the central image depicts the eclipse with the corona and Baily beads shown, this I agree with. I suggest the Moon does not fully cover the sun but conveys its movement across the sun. The eyes of the Moon/eclipse look at both supernovae in their correct positions, unlike the page markers which are slightly out.

f67r, Voynich Manuscript. Credit: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Overlay by P. Han, showing eye markers which point to the supernovae. Horizon and vertical are not markers but added for orientation.

The star on f67r at 11.30 O’clock I suggest corresponds to SN 1054. There are other very faint marks from 8 O’clock which I suggest are a marker (6) denoting the milky way, and celestial objects (1-5) specifically along the milky way (Galactic Equator). The circular arrangement of the constellations matches the Chinese style North Pole star centred sky map.

f67r, cropped, Voynich Manuscript. Credit: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Overlay by P. Han highlighting points of interest. Possibly 1-5=celestial objects along the Milky Way, 6=Milky way

1:
Possibly Auriga with Capella highlighted. Since Greek times the star Alnath was shared between Taurus and Auriga, between one of the bulls horns and a foot of the charioteer, it was originally Gamma-Aurigae but is now Beta-Tauri. Auriga is important in relation to Taurus and the location of SN 1054 and the shared star Alnath along with Capella and the North Pole (or North on a North Pole Star based map) forms a straight line towards SN 1054.

2: Depicts three stars? Possibly Almaak, Algol and Mirphak. Things in the manuscript often appear deliberately misleading and a mirror image of the stars fits very well. Although the marks look deliberate, they may just be naturally occurring pigmentation on the velum.

f67r, cropped, Voynich Manuscript. Deneb and Sadr? Credit: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

4: 4 is very hard to make out but looks like two circular images. This area would be below the horizon, possibly Deneb and Sadr.

f67r, cropped, Voynich Manuscript. Altair and Vega? Credit: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

5: Images looks like two hooks or “p”s. Possibly Altair and Vega. Altair and Vega are specifically important to Chinese astronomy in respect to the Milky Way, and this theme appears to occur later in the Voynich Manuscript in greater detail.

Chinese style North Pole Star based star map and European style horizon based star map (not true sky colour) at the time of the eclipse showing the locations of 1-6, compared to f67r. 1,2 and 4,5 have been roughly symmetrically placed in the image on f67r in relation to 3, indicating a map of rough locations rather than exact locations. 1 and 2 are nearer than true distance and 2 and 3 are further apart, the skewing of the Celestial Equator and Celestial Meridian as described earlier above may alternatively account for the locations being slightly off. Any correlation of the faint images on f67v to actual stars is clearer for stars above the horizon than below.


Solar eclipse of 10/5/1054. Credit: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (NASA's GSFC).	F67r, Voynich Manuscript. Credit: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Overlay by P. Han, showing main markers suggesting total eclipse of 10/5/1054 AD, Central China.