Scholars at the Indian Institute of Science have released a study on a recently digitized Sanskrit manuscript known as the Vatasiddhanta. Using modern astrophysical models, the team validated that the manuscript's algorithms for calculating the orbital paths of 'Ketus' (comets) match modern NASA data for the Great Comet of 1054 with a margin of error of less than 0.5%.
The research highlights that ancient Indian astronomers used a non-linear recursive mathematics that accounted for the varying speeds of celestial bodies as they approached the Sun. This breakthrough redefines our understanding of medieval Indian spherical astronomy and its predictive capabilities long before the invention of the telescope.