Ananova - May 12, 2004
A Chinese star chart possibly dating from the 7th century AD mapped the heavens with an accuracy unsurpassed until the Renaissance, according to research.
The Dunhuang chart is the oldest manuscript star map in the world and one of the most valuable treasures in astronomy.
The fine paper scroll, measuring 210 by 25 centimetres, (82 by 10 inches) displays no less than 1,345 stars grouped in 257 non-constellation patterns.
Such detail was not matched until Galileo and other European astronomers began searching the skies hundreds of years later - and they had the advantage of telescopes.
Hunting scene? Hunting a two-headed dragon in the sky...while the ocean 'waves' swamp the land and reach higher than the mountains...whilst black 'blobs' rain down. Image of a catastrophe.
'Heavenly Being' 