Be happy you didnt live in the middle ages if you think composing paper is costly these days. At that time, paper was as rare as hens teeth, so best of luck discovering some to compose one. However if you occurred to be a monk, opportunities exist were a lot of old books made of parchment. A number of them have ineffective stuff like old star catalogs, so why not simply recycle the parchment for your brand-new copy of religious literature?
This is basically how the Codex Climaci Rescriptus happened. Parchment is made from animal skin and processed into a thin, paper-like product. Its tiresome to make, however it can last for centuries under the best conditions. It can also be quickly removed. Simply scrape the old ink off with a sharp knife, and you are excellent to go. This type of recycling was occasionally used throughout the early midlifes till paper production ended up being typical in the 1500s. As a result, we have a few books like the Codex Climaci Rescriptus with medieval texts overwritten on much older works. We have understood about this kind of thing for more than a century. In a lot of cases, you can even see hints of the older underlying text, but great luck reading it. That has actually altered thanks to multispectral imaging.
How multispectral imaging reveals text. Credit: Museum of the Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
By integrating images at different wavelengths, you can tease out the background text while decreasing the foreground text, therefore making the old text understandable. In a current research study, a group did this with the Codex Climaci Rescriptus, and discovered the initial writing consisted of pieces of the Hipparchus star brochure, which is thought to be the earliest detailed map of the northern night sky.
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The team first discovered the pieces in 2017, but this new study has revealed some intriguing details, particularly concerning the connection in between the Hipparchus and Ptolemy catalogs.
One of the enduring mysteries was whether Ptolemy copied the Hipparchus catalog wholesale and broadened it, or whether Ptolemy merely referenced Hipparchus while making his own measurements. The group was able to find 4 constellations within the Hipparchus pieces and found their star areas are somewhat various from those in the Ptolemy catalog. The precision of Hipparchus wasnt equated to till the Persian astronomer Ulugh Beg assembled his Zij-i Sultani star brochure in the 1400s.
In a recent research study, a team did this with the Codex Climaci Rescriptus, and discovered the original writing consisted of fragments of the Hipparchus star brochure, which is believed to be the earliest detailed map of the northern night sky.
Hipparchus was a Greek astronomer who assembled his brochure around 135 BCE. His brochure was lost to the ages. We know of it due to the fact that four centuries later on Ptolemy discusses it in the text of his own star brochure, Almagest, which we do have copies of. The Codex Climaci Rescriptus includes the only direct pieces of the Hipparchus brochure we have. The team first found the pieces in 2017, however this new study has revealed some intriguing details, especially relating to the connection in between the Hipparchus and Ptolemy catalogs.
One of the long-standing mysteries was whether Ptolemy copied the Hipparchus brochure wholesale and broadened it, or whether Ptolemy simply referenced Hipparchus while making his own measurements. The group was able to discover four constellations within the Hipparchus fragments and discovered their star locations are slightly different from those in the Ptolemy catalog.
Referral: Gysembergh, Victor, Peter J. Williams, and Emanuel Zingg. “New evidence for Hipparchus Star Catalogue exposed by multispectral imaging.” Journal for the History of Astronomy 53.4 (2022 ): 383-393.
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