Un contributo al dibattito sui rapporti tra i cataloghi stellari di Tolomeo e Ipparco

TL;DR

This paper examines the relationship between Ptolemy's and Hipparchus's star catalogues, suggesting that Ptolemy's catalogue may have independent sources, based on differences in their observation locations.

Contribution

It introduces an analysis of observation location diversity as evidence for independent sources in Ptolemy's star catalogue.

Findings

Concordances and differences between the catalogues are identified.

Observation location diversity challenges the idea of Ptolemy's catalogue being solely derived from Hipparchus.

Supports the hypothesis of independent sources for Ptolemy's catalogue.

Abstract

The uncertainty about the relationships between the star catalogue contained in the Almagest (books VII-VIII) and the catalogue of Hipparchus dates back to the origins of modern astronomy. The fact that Hipparchus' catalogue was lost and that his observations of a limited number of stars remained has favored the formulation of various hypotheses on the subject. The recent discovery of (at least) a part of Hipparchus' catalogue seems to indicate that there are various concordances between the two catalogues, but also differences sufficient to suggest that Ptolemy's catalogue also derives from sources independent of Hipparchus' catalogue. This article presents an additional element for the comparison between the two catalogues, based on the diversity of the observation locations of the two astronomers, which provides an argument against the originality of the Ptolemaic catalogue.