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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

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