THE GREEK ASTRONOMER Hipparchus drew up the very first star catalog of the western world sometime between 162 and 127 BCE, recording names, descriptions, and coordinates of some 850 stars. At least, that's what later sources say. No one has found copies of Hipparchus’ list — until now.
Writing in the Journal for the History of Astronomy, three European scientists claim to have uncovered a small part oi the long-lost catalogue. “I felt nothing short of awe when I first heard about it,” says astronomy historian William Sheehan.
“[The find] illuminates a crucial moment in the birth of science, when astronomers shifted from simply describing the patterns they saw in the sky to measuring and predicting them,” astronomy historian James Evans (University of Puget Sound) told Nature.
Peter J. Williams (Cambridge University, UK)…
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Australian Sky & Telescope (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2023