Early in ancient China, some people had begun to observe astronomical phenomena.

In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, China had made great achievements in the fields of astronomy. In the observation of astronomical phenomena, the astronomers of the State of Lu had observed a solar eclipse 37 times, 33 of which were proved to be reliable. The observation of what we have termed as Halley's Comet currently had been recorded in one of the history records of the State of Lu, The Spring and Autumn annuals as early as in 613 BC. It has been recognized that the record related to Halley's Comet is the first one all over the world.

In the Warring States Period, the astronomical monographs also came out. For instance, astronomer of state of Qi, Gan De, wrote Astronomic Auspice, and Shi Shen from state of Wei wrote Chronometer, Afterward, those masterpieces were integrated into one and got the name Gan and Shi's Celestial Book, which is the earliest still existing astronomical masterpieces of China and the world.

Gan and Shis Celetial Book recorded how five planets including Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn moved and the rules concerning when and how they appeared and disappeared. The book also recorded the azimuth of 121 fixed stars measured by ancient astronomers and the names of 800 fixed stars altogether.

Gan De discovered the statellite of Jupiter with his bearly eyes. However, Shi Shen found out that the solar eclipses and the lunar eclipses could be regarded as the phenomenon in which celestial bodies hide each other when they move. Therefore, in memory of Shi Shen, a crater on the moon is named after him.

In later generations, many astronomers references the data from Gan and Shi'sCeletial Book when they measured the place and movement of the sun, the moon or other planets. Thus, Gan and Shi's Celetial Book holds a very important place in the history of astronomy of China and the whole world.