(1546-1601)

TYCHO BRAHE
 Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
 Born on December 14, 1546 in Knudstrup,
Denmark, of noble descent, Tycho [Tyge]
Brahe was probably the greatest pre-
telescopic astronomer. He was sent by his
family to study in Copenhagen, then to
Leipzig to study law, but he soon became
entirely occupied with astronomy. In 1565
and 1566 Tycho studied mathematics at the
universities in Wittenburg and Rostock. It
is in Rostock that Tycho engaged in a duel
with a fellow student and nobleman that
ended up costing him part of his nose.
 May 23, 1576
 The Danish King Frederick II granted Tycho
the island of Hven, east of Copenhagen, by
royal decree and an annual stipend to further
his astronomical research. Tycho used his
independence and financial security to
establish the Uraniborg Observatory on the
island.
 Tycho proceeded to build astronomical
measuring instruments of unprecedented
accuracy, not to mention physical size. He
also established his own printing press on
Hven, and built a second underground
observatory with isolated observing stations
to ensure reliably independent multiple
astronomical measurements
Tycho Brahe's Observations and Instruments
Tycho's observations of stellar and planetary positions were noteworthy both for their accuracy and
quantity. His celestial positions were much more accurate than those of any predecessor or
contemporary. Tycho was not a Copernican, but proposed a "geo-heliocentric" system in which the
Sun and Moon orbited the Earth, while the other planets orbited the Sun. Although Tycho's planetary
model was soon discredited, his astronomical observations were an essential contribution to the
scientific revolution.
 1572 NOVAE
 Shown is a diagram in Tycho Brahe's 1573
book, "De Nova Stella", showing the
position of the 1572 (super) nova with
respect to the bright stars in the
constellation Cassiopea. A lack of
detectable parallax forced Brahe to locate
the nova beyond the sphere of the Moon,
i.e., in the celestial realm, supposedly
unalterable according to Aristotelian
doctrine.
 1577 Comet and Orbital Reconstruction
 Shown here is a depiction of the 1577 comet observed by
Tycho, which remained visible from November 1577 to
January 1578. His observations revealed no measurable
parallax, implying that the comet was located beyond the
sphere of the moon.

 His reconstruction of the comet's orbital path, from

brightening and dimming and displacement with respect
to the background stars, indicated that the comet moved
across the concentric planetary crystalline spheres. This
supported the notion of a "fluid heaven" and contradicted
the physical reality of these spheres as real, hard,
transparent, and contiguous spherical shells.
 The comet's path is drawn within Tycho's planetary
system, where all planets orbit around the Sun, with
the latter orbiting a fixed Earth. Note that the comet's
path crosses numerous planetary spheres, from which
Tycho concluded that the said spheres could not be
crystalline, solid objects as assumed by Aristotle. Like
Nicolaus Copernicus and other earlier astronomers,
Tycho clung firmly to the notion of perfectly circular
orbits for all heavenly bodies; Johannes Kepler would
be the first to break from this particular theory.
 The Tychonian Planetary Model
 The Tychonian planetary model, conceived by Tycho around 1583, was an unconvincing attempt to
reintroduce geocentrism in the "Copernican planetary system." From his observations of the 1572
(super)nova and 1577 comet, Tycho was convinced of the falsity of the Ptolemaic system. In Tycho's
system the Earth is absolutely fixed, so that the daily motion of the fixed stars is ascribed to a daily
rotation of the outermost sphere, as in the Ptolemaic system. A similar planetary system was
proposed in antiquity by Heraklides of Pontus (ca. 388–310 BC)who, however, ascribed to the Earth
a daily axial rotation.
 From the standpoint of apparent planetary motions
as seen from Earth, this system is observationally
indistinguishable from the Copernican model, yet
maintains the fixity of the Earth. The latter belief
was held by Tycho to the end of his life, largely
because he had been unable to detect the annual
parallax of the fixed stars predicted by the
Copernican model, despite the unprecedented
accuracy of the observations carried out with his
"giant instruments" at Uraniborg. Tycho could
measure parallax down to 2 minutes of arc (1/30 of
a degree); his lack of parallax detection for fixed
stars implied that the latter would have to be
located 700 times farther away than Saturn, the
outermost planet known at the time.
 Tycho's Instruments
 Uraniborg was a Danish astronomical observatory
and alchemical laboratory established and
operated by Tycho Brahe. It was built from 1576–
1580 on Hven, an island in the Øresund between
Zealand and Scania, which at that time was part of
Denmark. Uraniborg was the first custom-built
observatory in modern Europe, though not the last
to be built without a telescope as its primary
instrument. The observatory had a large mural
quadrant affixed to a north-south wall, used to
measure the altitude stars as they passed of the
meridian. This, along with many other instruments
of the observatory, was depicted and described in
detail in Brahe's 1598 book "Astronomiae
instaurata mechanica" (tinted engraving.)
1576 Brass Azimuthal Quadrant
 Tycho's brass azimuthal quadrant, 65 centimeters
in radius, was built in 1576 or 1577. It was one of
the first instruments built at Hveen ,and was used
for observations of the 1577 comet. It had an
estimated accuracy of 48.8 seconds of arc.

 Tycho's great globe, about 1.6 meter in radius, was

over 10 years in the making. This instrument came
in service in late 1580. Most of the work involved
making the hollow wooden globe as perfectly
spherical as possible, after which it was covered in
brass plates.
1580 Great Globe
 The globe had two primary scientific uses; it came to be
used to record the position of stars observed by Tycho.
By 1595 he had 1000 accurately observed stars
inscribed on the globe. However, it was originally
intended as a computational device. By means of
auxiliary circles, the local azimuth/altitude coordinates,
as measured with Tycho's instruments, were converted
into the conventional celestial coordinates used to
record stellar and planetary positions.
1581 Armillary Sphere
 An "armillary sphere" is a model of objects in the
sky (in the celestial sphere), consisting of a
spherical framework of rings, centered on Earth,
that represent lines of celestial longitude and
latitude and other astronomically important features
such as the ecliptic. As such, it differs from a
celestial globe, which is a smooth sphere whose
principal purpose is to map the constellations.

 Tycho's armillary sphere was 1.6 meter in radius

and built in 1581. Tycho rapidly gave up on using
large versions of the classical armillary sphere, as
he found their accuracy compromised by flexing
and bending due to the great weight of the various
components. This lead to the design of the vastly
superior equatorial armillaries.
1582 Triangular Sextant
 Tycho's triangular Sextant, about 1.6 meter in
radius, was built in 1582. As Tycho's sextants grew
in size, they became fixed instruments, although
Tycho's ingenious globe mount retained a lot of the
versatility of use of smaller, conventional portable
sextants.
1585 Great Equatorial Armillary
 Large instruments such as these, with improved sighting
devices and measuring scales, as well as Tycho's
advanced procedures to correct for atmospheric
refraction, allowed him to compute stellar and planetary
positions consistently accurate to within a minute of arc.
Tycho's determination of the tropical year was too small
by about one second, and his determination of the Earth's
orbital tilt (which Tycho, committed to the Earth's fixity
as he was, referred to as the angle between the ecliptic
and the celestial equator) by half a minute of arc.

 Tycho's great equatorial armillary, 3 meters in diameter,

was built in 1585. This is an armillary sphere reduced to
its bare essentials, and one of Tycho's workhorse
instruments. It has an estimated accuracy of 38.6
seconds of arc.
1586 Revolving Wooden Quadrant
 Tycho's revolving wooden quadrant, 1.6 meter in radius, was built in 1586. It had an estimated
accuracy of 32.3 seconds of arc, based on eight reference stars.
1588 Revolving Steel Quadrant
 An improvement over Tycho's wooden version, his
revolving steel quadrant, 2 meters in radius, was built in
1588. It's estimated accuracy was 36.3 seconds of arc.

 Tycho left Hveen in 1597, having fallen out of favor

with the Danish King Christian IV. Upon settling in
Prague he arranged for most of his instrument to be
shipped there. After his death, legal battles between
Kepler and Tycho's heir led to the instruments being
stored away. All but Tycho's great globe were destroyed
in the aftermath of the Bohemian civil war of 1619. The
great globe found its way back to Copenhagen, and
remained in the University's observatory tower until
that tower and all its content were destroyed by fire in
1728. All we know from Tycho's instruments is from his
(fortunately elaborate) published writings.
THIS VIDEO PRESENTATION WAS PREPARED BY:

MIZZY R. MALLORCA AMIER-QHAF J. HIYA-HIYA

BSME 3B BSME 3B

STS 100 (TUESDAY 4:00PM-7:00PM)