image source, BBC/Getty Images
Astronomers have discovered a stone disk they believe may be one of the oldest maps of the night sky.
This disk was discovered in Italy and is thought to be about 3,000 years old.
Researchers at Italy’s National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) used software to analyze 29 traces on the stone.
They believe that most of the marks correspond to famous constellations of the brightest stars in the sky, such as Orion, Scorpio, and Cassiopeia.
image source, Italian National Institute of Astrophysics
Archaeologist Federico Bernardini and astronomer Paolo Molaro with a disk
How was the star map stone discovered?
The stone was discovered in an old hill fortress in northeastern Italy, near a second similar sky stone that researchers believe may represent the sun.
A study of the marked disc revealed that 28 of the 29 marks on the stone corresponded to the positions of 28 stars in the sky.
However, there is no obvious connection to the 29th mark, and researchers say it could be a star that became a supernova or a black hole and is no longer visible to us today.
image source, Paolo Molaro and Federico Bernardini
Diagram showing the 24 marks on one side of the stone. The other five marks are on the opposite side.
“The unidentified mark casts doubt on the overall picture,” study authors Felico Bernardini and Paolo Molaro wrote.
“The cases of failed supernova explosions are very interesting. One technique for searching for supernovae is to use images taken in the past to precisely look for missing stars in the present sky. ”
This research suggests that this stone was used to track the seasons throughout the year.
image source, Getty Images
The oldest depiction of the night sky is the Nebula Sky Disc, believed to be 3,600 years old.
But astronomer Ed Krupp doubts whether this stone disk is really a map of the night sky.
“Could these marks represent asterisms? They are possible,” he said in an interview with the scientific journal Live Science.
But he doesn’t believe the INAF researchers have proven that the stone disk case is the case, saying: “Does this paper make a convincing case? No, it doesn’t. ” he said.
What do you think about stone discs? Let us know in the comments!