Tycho Brahe

Tycho Brahe  (14 December 1546 — 24 October 1601) was an astronomer from Denmark. He observed the night sky before the invention of the telescope. With money from the King of Denmark he built a large observatory called Uraniborg on the island of Hven in Denmark. 

He discovered that the universe outside the Solar System could change when he studied a supernova and a comet. Johannes Kepler was his assistant. Tycho made very careful observations of the planets. When Tycho died in 1601, Kepler continued Tycho's work.

Tycho was not a modern scientist. He believed in astrology, and his astronomy was a strange mixture of scientific observation and religious belief. Although he rejected the Ptolemaic system, he also rejected the Copernican system.Blair, Ann 1990.  Tycho Brahe's critique of Copernicus and the Copernican system. Journal of the History of Ideas, 51, 1990: 355-377.Gingerich, Owen 1973. Copernicus and Tycho. Scientific American 173, 86–101. He developed a geocentric theory that imagined the Sun and Moon orbited the Earth, but the other planets orbited the Sun. 

Unlike most astronomers of his time, he did not believe in the unchanging celestial realm or spheres. Tycho's Nova, now called SN 1572, proved that changes did take place. Also, he worked out that comets were real celestial objects, and that their orbits were different from those of the planets.

 Related pages 
 Johannes Kepler
List of Danish writers

 References 

 Other websites 
 Tycho Brahe – Accomplishments, Biography, & Facts. Encyclopædia Britannica

Category:1546 births
Category:1601 deaths
Category:Astrologers
Category:Danish astronomers