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Is Atlas Holding Hipparchus' Lost Star Map?

Posted by timothy on from the that's-pretty-weighty dept.

cr0kin0le writes "The Farnese Atlas at the Naples National Archaeological Museum may be holding a celestial globe which accurately depicts the long-lost star catalog of Hipparchus, according to a physics professor at Louisiana State University."

3 of 421 comments (clear)

  1. What's up with the modified statue? by Harald74 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In the NYTimes.com picture, they added a leaf... Is this some American thing? /European

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  2. Interesting stuff by dn15 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That's pretty cool. The scientists/naturalists/etc. of the past may have had a more primitive understanding of the universe, but they weren't stupid. It's amazing to think that they figured out so much about the sky so long ago with so few tools, when today most people don't have a working knowledge that even comes close to matching it.

    1. Re:Interesting stuff by Fred_A · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They could see the sky at the time. There are fewer and fewer locations where you can get a clear view of the sky nowadays between light pollution and particles.

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