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Did Hipparchus create a star catalog?
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Hipparchus
âSix astronomers,â the frontispiece of Astronomica Institutio (1692) by Jan Luyts, engraving after drawing by Gerard Hoet. Hipparchus is seated at center with from left to right: Galileo, Johannes Hevelius, Tycho Brahe, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Ptolemy.
Yes, Hipparchus is credited with creating the first known star catalog in 129 BCE.1
According to Pliny the Elder, this catalog assigned names to stars and included measurements of their positions. While the exact number of stars it contained is unknown, some sources indicate it listed approximately 850 stars with their celestial longitudes and latitudes.21
Only fragments of Hipparchus's original work have survived. However, many historians believe that the catalog of 1,022 stars presented by Ptolemy in the Almagest was derived largely from Hipparchusâs data, adjusted for the precession of the equinoxesâa phenomenon Hipparchus himself discovered.23