28. How Much is 9 Minutes?
The 9-minute difference between Diary Line 16' and TheSky software may have come about in several ways. Line 16' mentions a little rain, which suggests viewing conditions were not optimum. Possibly, modern astronomical computation is at fault. Still, how significant is 9 minutes over a span of more than 2500 years?
29. More 9 Minutes
In the course of 2500 years, a clock tick tocks in excess of 1,300,000,000 minutes. Thus the mismatch in Line 16' of 9 minutes corresponds to an "error" of less than 1 in 10E8 (one part in 100 million) in the orbital position of the moon.
The result indicates Babylonian astronomers were fine observers, and modern astronomical computations are excellent.
30. A Look into Diary No. -197 (198 BCE)
The first 10 datable inscriptions of Diary No. -197 were analyzed in the same manner as the data of Diary No. -567.
After testing these observations and finding few significant discrepancies, the analysis of Diary No. -197 was curtailed.
(To be precise, of the more than 15 independent phenomena considered, 2 mismatches warranted further investigation.)
31. Random Tests/Characteristic Phenomena
Another 8 Diary inscriptions were analyzed using TheSky software. The inscriptions were selected randomly, but with the added purpose of illustrating the characteristic phenomena that Babylonian astronomers watched for in mapping the sky.
The study found no significant discrepancies. The overall integrity of Babylonian astronomy and modern computation seems firm.