Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

JohnnyUtah_QB1 t1_isx2qzs wrote

Reply to comment by Bradwarden0047 in First known map of night sky found hidden in Medieval parchment by TechnologicalDarkage

> A medieval parchment from a monastery in Egypt has yielded a surprising treasure. Hidden beneath Christian texts, scholars have discovered what seems to be part of the long-lost star catalogue of the astronomer Hipparchus — believed to be the earliest known attempt to map the entire sky.

If you actually read the article you would see this is what makes it unique. The article does mention prior depictions of the night sky occurring throughout history, but these are always just a handful of celestial bodies that were important for those cultures. This text in contrast was intended to be a rigourous mapping of every object that could be seen.

4

Bradwarden0047 t1_isy4oyl wrote

Actually you should read the article first before preaching it. This finding details only the Corona Borealis constellation. Not the entire sky. Maybe try reading beyond the first paragraph next time.

Hipparchus is thought to have charted the entire night sky and click baity articles like this create the impression that this discovery is it. They bank on the fact that people like you just read the headline or first paragraph and become experts on the subject.

0

JohnnyUtah_QB1 t1_isy7ol1 wrote

I read it. Try again.

This catalog has been alluded to over the centuries by ancient texts but no one had any surviving proof. Ancient texts make vague allusions to Hipparchus' catalog but no one had ever actually dug up the catalog itself. While the deciphered piece is only partial, it's compelling proof that Hipparchus did produce a catalog of stars, and given testimony from other ancient astronomers who saw it in whole there's good reason to believe it was exhaustive.

Ancient peoples were citing this work for centuries. It was lost at some point and scholars have been trying to find a copy for centuries. It's pretty incredible to find pieces of it written over and hidden in documents we've been sitting on the whole time

3