The record-union., 1893-01-10
TIE EASTERN STAR.
How Tycho Brahe's Discovery Star
tied the World.
Was it the Star of BethIehems What
Astronomical Science and Imag-
ination Develop.

Brahe, the Danish astronomer, with the
''Star in the East" that led the Magi 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 as to
the precise date when it became visible,
but Tycho himself saw it for the first
time on the evening of the llth of No
yem Der, 1872. He was then about rs years
Of age and was perimenting in the
chemistry of that day, which concerned
itself chiefly with the discovery OF some
means Of making gold. He was return
ing home from his chemical laboratory
when he saw the star. 1t was in the con-
stellation Of Cassiopeia, nearly in the zen
ith and only about % from the place re-
Gently occupied by the strange new comet
in AndrOmCda. 1T Sclutillated with as
tonishing brightness, far outshining every
star in the sky, and equaling the SpIendOr
Of Venus at her brightest, when she IS
able TO cast a distinct shadow after sun
set.
Tycho, who knew very well that no
such star had been visible there before,
seems to have been quite beWidered by
the apparltlon, and, unable to trust his
own eyes, he turned to some of his serv-
ants and asked them ii they saw the
star. They did. Still, apparently, too
much cOnfOunded by so unexpected and
brilliant a phenomenon, to accept the
evidences Of his senses, the young aIche-
mist and budding astronomer hailed
some peasants who were driving by and
called their attention to the star. Their
eXciamatlOns of wonder fully satisfied
him that his eyesight was not playing
him t1-iaf- Tger,atgiatp1vv " IA ~ J. n
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 10 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 abb
bey, in Denmark, at nearly 56 degrees of
north latitude, 1ycho was able to watch
the star i'll its journey all the way around
the pole, Tor the star was only about IS
degrees from the pole, and when il was
under the pole star it was nearly IS de-
grees above the horizon. 1t was so bright
during the first four weeks succeeding
Its Outburst that it could be seen in the
NAcsf lAA1ACs anu COilSCti ucnllg COulQ p6 1O4-
lowed through a complete circuit about
the pole. Then it began slowly TO fade,
and in March, l574, IL 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 bad been the star
would undoubtedly have remained ViSI-
Die with their and long after it had faded
beyond the reach of the unaided eye.
The changes III color that the star I'M
1erwent We're remarkable. At first it
was brilliantly white; gradually it turned
yellow; later on, about tIVe or six months
after its first appearance, its hue became
fiery or reddish; finally it assumed adult,
teaden color, and remained thus as long
Us it could be seen.
Iycho proved that his wonderful phe-
nOmenOn was not comet, as some sup
posed, and not an opposition as near to
the earth as the moon and the planets are.
Dut that 1t was situated among the fixed
stars. lie dlG not fully comprehend the
meaning of what he thus established.
because he had very Inadequate and in
correct idea of the distance OF the fixed
stars. If the new star was really at The
average distance Of the fixed stars and it
probably was then, when it bIaZed most
brilliantly, IL must have poured forth at
least ten thousand and perhaps hundred
thousand times as much light as our sun
gives! Some astronomers have thought
that the outburSt of this strange star was
Que TO the effects Of a collision involving
sun ordinarily too faint, through dis
tance, to be visible from the earth But
suppose that sun to have been like our
own, the center OF a system of worlds
what became of them when their orb of
day suddenly burst out into furnace two
hundred-thOusand-fO as intense as il
had been before? In such a gIsh of solar
fury planets would melt like snowtlakes
in summer day.
But now as 10 the imagined connection
between Tycho's star and the Star Of BeLh-
lehem. IychO, himself, combated the
supposltlon OF their Identity, but he could
not prevent the general public from be-
iievlng that the new star was herald OF
the second coming Of Christ and the end
OF the world Just as the star Of the NJapi
proclaimed the birth Of the Savior. This
belief was not confined to the ignorant:
1t was shared by William ". Of Hesse.
himself no mean astronomer for thai
day, and by the celebrated Theodore
Be2a, the successor OF Calvin. One CvD-
rianus DeOvitius, referring for his an
Jhorlty to an odd manuscript" declared
that similar stars had been seen in the
same quarter of the heavens as that in
which Iyeho's appeared, in the years
1854 and gl5. Between 1864 to l572 there
was a lapse of sos years. and between s45
and 1854 another lapse of 3l9 years. Not
withstanding the difference Of eleven
years between these periods, it was con-
cluded That the star nuctuated in a cvcle
somewhat exceeding 800 years, and that
its fifth previous appearance had CO.
lucided with the birth of Christ. If its
temperance in l572 denoted the an
proaching end Of the world, what mes
sages had it brought to man at its former
spparitiOns, or had it, on those occasions
proved itself false prophet? Nobody
seems to have troubled himself about
these questions.
But one only needs to read the account
Cf the star OF the AIagi i'll the second chan
ter OF Matthew to see thai it could onfy
be ldentlned with such phenomenon as
Iycho's star by very liberal use of the
Oriental imagination. y ct we know how
capable that Imagination is OF making the
phenomena OF nature correspond with
1ancles OF the mind. According to the
sccount, after the wise men OF the East'
had had their interview with Herod, the
star went before them till it came and
stood over where the young child was"
1hal Such description could he applied
70 an unknown star, shining among the
other stars and sharing only in their mo-
tons. Is possible, but not probable
However that may be, everybody
knows Lhat within recent years there has
been a Widespread expectation Of the re-
appearance OF IychO'S star, cOupled with
tie notion that that phenomenon is the
real star of Bethlehem. Indeed, some'of
the many pretenders TO scientific knowl-
edge, who have begot in their 1nuddled
brains the idea that they are sayanrs and
prophets OF one kind or another. and
whose absurd givings-lorth tind too many
uncrlucaI readers, have from time to time
actually ventured TO assert in the public
prints that this star had reappeared, and
me statement has been accepted by thou
sahdS eI persons, who should and could
have known better.