 | 
Portrait of Tycho Brahe (1546 - 1601) by Jacob de Gheyn. Surrounding Tycho are the
coats of arms of his ancestors. "Guildenstern" is at bottom left, and
"Rosencrans" is four above "Guildenstern." Click here for a larger version. Use your
browser's BACK button to return to this page. |
|  In Scania,
Denmark, Tycho first observed of a "new star" (a supernova) on November 11,
1572. From Flammarion's Astronomie Populaire (1880), reproduced in Sky
and Telescope, November 1998. Click here
for a larger version. Use your browser's BACK button to return to this page. |
|  For his discovery of
the new star, the Danish king financed an observatory for Tycho on the island of Hven in
the Danish Sound between Denmark and Sweden. Hamlet's Elsinore
("Helschenor") castle is at left. From Atlas of the Principal Cities
(1588), reproduced in Sky and Telescope, November 1998. Click here for a larger version. Use your browser's
BACK button to return to this page. |
|  Tycho's observatory "Uraniborg,"
which means "castle of the heavens." Click here for a larger version. Use your
browser's BACK button to return to this page. |
|  At
Uraniborg, Tycho used a huge mural quadrant to make accurate measurements of the positions
of stars and planets. Tycho remained at Uraniborg until 1597. Tycho later
settled in Prague, where he hired Johannes Kepler as his assistant in 1600. Click here for a larger version. Use your browser's
BACK button to return to this page. |
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Last modified: Monday, January 24, 2005 11:02 AM
