X-Rays Unlock 2,000-Year-Old Night Sky Map

A 2,000-year-old star map, believed to be created by the renowned Greek astronomer Hipparchus, is being reconstructed through advanced X-ray analysis. This ancient celestial map lay hidden for centuries beneath a medieval manuscript known as the Codex Climaci Rescriptus. Researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California are using specialized X-rays to distinguish between the iron-rich ink of the medieval text and the calcium-hinted ink of the original astronomical document.

This groundbreaking technique allows scientists to recover detailed astronomical coordinates, which are proving to be remarkably accurate for naked-eye observations. The project aims to answer fundamental questions about the inception of science and how ancient astronomers achieved such precision without telescopes. Eleven pages of the manuscript are currently undergoing scanning, with hopes of uncovering more about the early development of astronomy and the methods employed by figures like Hipparchus.

Hipparchus, often called the father of scientific astronomy, lived from approximately 190 to 120 BCE and is credited with creating early star catalogues and trigonometric tables. His lost writings, except for one, have only been known through secondary reports. The reconstruction of his star map offers an extraordinary opportunity to understand his contributions and the scientific landscape of antiquity more fully. The delicate manuscript is handled with extreme care to preserve its integrity during the analysis.