Four days after, on the 22nd February 1576, Tycho paid his first visit (at least as far as we know) to the little island which was destined to become famous through him, and the same evening took his first observation there of a conjunction of Mars and the moon.[1] If he could have foreseen that he was destined to furnish the means of circumventing the tricks of the inobservable Sidus (as Pliny called Mars), and himself to add more to our knowledge of the moon's motion than any one had done since Ptolemy, he would certainly by this coincidence have been confirmed in his belief in astrology. On the 23rd May a document was signed by the king of which the following is an exact translation:[2]—
"We, Frederick the Second, &c., make known to all men, that we of our special favour and grace have conferred and granted in fee, and now by this our open letter confer and grant in fee, to our beloved Tyge Brahe, Otte's son, of Knudstrup, our man and servant, our land of Hveen, with all our and the crown's tenants and servants who thereon live, with all rent and duty which comes from that, and is
- ↑ Februarii die 22. Existente in M. C. ultima in capite Hydræ quæ est versus ortum, et sola juxta collum, apparebat visibilis conjunctio ☾ et ♂ admodum partilis, adeo ut ☾ inferiore et meridionaliore cornu fere attingeret corpus ♂ distans saltem ab eo parte sexta sui diametri accipiendo distantiam hanc ab inferiori cornu limbi. Erat autem circa idem tempus per observationem alt. lucidiss. in pede Orionis ii g. 20 m.—H. 9 M. 30. Infimus vero ☾ limbus circa quem ♂ conspiciebatur elevari visus est 10 g. 50 m. Observatio hæc facta i. Huennæ. Langebek in Danske Mag., ii. p. 194 (Weistritz, ii. p. 73), refers to this visit to Hveen as made in the year 1574. In the original the year is not given, and the observation follows after one of May 19, 1574. But on February 22, 1574, the moon was only a few days old, and Mars was at the other side of the heavens, while they were very close together on the same date in 1576.
- ↑ Danske Magazin, ii. p. 198.
the Danish daler retained nearly unaltered, though the name changed, first to species (from in specie, or in one piece), then to rigsdaler species. The coinage had greatly deteriorated during the war with Sweden, hence doubtless the expression "good old daler."
