2022/10/18 by Victor Gysembergh, Peter J. Williams, Emanuel Zingg · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · Arts and Humanities · #Historical Astronomy and Related Studies #History of Science and Medicine #Diverse Historical and Scientific Studies
paper · doi:10.1177/00218286221128289
openalex publication_date 2022/10/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
New evidence for ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus’ lost Star Catalogue has come to light thanks to multispectral imaging of a palimpsest manuscript and subsequent decipherment and interpretation. This new evidence is the most authoritative to date and allows major progress in the reconstruction of Hipparchus’ Star Catalogue. In particular, it confirms that the Star Catalogue was originally composed in equatorial coordinates. It also confirms that Ptolemy’s Star Catalogue was not based solely on data from Hipparchus’ Catalogue. Finally, the available numerical evidence is consistent with an accuracy within 1° of the real stellar coordinates, which would make Hipparchus’ Catalogue significantly more accurate than his successor Claudius Ptolemy’s.