The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-12-25
STAR OF BETHLEHEM.
How Tycho Brahe's Discovery
Startled the World.
A STRANGE LIGHT IN THE SKY.
The DasEling Visitor Hailed % the
Lamp That Guided tho Wise Men
to the Savfor's Cradle.

One of the most interesting legends con-
nected with the history of astronomy is
that which seeks to identify the blazing
star that appeared in the time OF Tycho
Brahe, the Danish astronomer, with the
Star in the East" that led the nagi to
the cradle of Christ in Bethlehem
In the circumstances of its appearances
Tycho's star may be said to have made a
truly dramatic entrance upon the scene
There is considerable uncertainty az to the
precise date when it became visible, but
Tycho himself saw it for the first time on
the evening of the 18th of November, 1872.
He was then about 26 years of age and was
experimenting in the chemistry of that
day, which concerned itself chiefly with
the discovery of some means of making
gold. He was returning home from his
chemical laboratory Wien he saw the star.
1t was in the constellation of Cassiopeia,
nearly in the zenith. and only about
twenty-five degrees from the place re-
Gently occupied by the strange new comet
in Andromeda. 1t scintilIated with aston
ishing brightness. far outshining every
star in the sky. and equalling the SPLEEN
dor of Venus at her brightest, whea she is
able to cast a distinct shadow after sunset.
star had been visible there before, seems
to have been quite bewildered by the ap-
partition. and. unable to trust his own
eyes, he turned to some of his servants
and asked them if they saw the star.
They did. Still, apparently, too much
confounded by so unexpected and
brilliant phenomenon, to accept the evil
dence of his senses, the young alchemist
and Of III
peasants who were driving by and called
their attention to the star. Their ex-
CARNATIONS of wonder fully satisfied him
that his eyesight was not playing him a
trick. Immediately he set to work to
study the new star. with the best means
at his command, in order, if possible, to
ascertain its nature and its distance from
the earth.
In explanation of Tycho's unwilling
ness at first to accept the appearance of
the new star as an actual fact despite the
evidence of his own eyes, it may be re-
marked that at that time it was prevail
ing doctrine that nothing new could be
created in the heavens, and he was not
yet free from this superstition.
Living as he then did at Heridroad alb
hey, in Denmark. at nearly 56 degrees of
noItH iatltuOe, lyCnO was able to y atch
the star in its journey all the way around
the pole, for the star was only about %
degrees from the pole, and when il was
under the pole star it was yet nearly %
degrees above the horizon. 1t was SO
bright during the first four weeks succeed
ing its oatburst that it could be seen in
the daytime, and consequently could be
followed through a complete circuit about
the pole. Then it began. slowly 70 fade,
and in March. 1874. it disappeared, the
whole time of its visibility having been
about seventeen months. But it must be
remembered that there were no telescopes
in those days; if there had been the star
would undoubtedly have remained visible
with their aid long after it had faded be.
yond the reach of the unaided eye
The changes In color that the star I'M
derwent were remarkable. At first it was
brilliantly white: gradually it turned yell
low; later on, about five or six months
after its first appearance. its hue became
fiery or reddish; finally it assumed a dull,
leaden color, and remained thus as long as
it could he seen.
Tycho proved that this wonderful phe-
nomenon was not q comet, as some sup
posed. and not an opposition as near to