Bernt Rostad sent me a tip about this story from the New York Times:
"At a meeting of the American Astronomical Society here, Dr. Schaefer, a professor of physics at Louisiana State University, reported that the text of Hipparchus' catalog was still lost, but that he had found possibly the next best thing, a pictorial representation of the catalog's contents."
No manuscript was found, but the next best thing. On an ancient statute of Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders.
"Dr. Schaefer said Hipparchus made small celestial globes showing the positions of stars in his catalog, and the original Greek sculptor probably consulted one of these globes in chiseling the Farnese Atlas."
All in all this seems to give credence to the belief that Hipparchus was more advanced than was previously thought.
Simply brilliant research! Truly inspired.
