CHAPTER VII.
TYCHO'S BOOK ON THE COMET OF 1577, AND HIS SYSTEM OF THE WORLD.
The year 1588 is one of great importance in the life of Tycho Brahe, not only because his firm friend and benefactor died in that year, but also because he then published a volume containing some of the results of his work at Uraniborg, and embodying his views on the construction of the universe. The subject specially dealt with in this volume was the great comet of 1577, the most conspicuous of the seven comets observed in his time.
This comet was first noticed by Tycho on the 13th November 1577, but it had already been seen in Peru on the 1st, and in London on the 2nd November.[1] On the evening of the 13th, a little before sunset, Tycho was engaged at one of his fishponds, trying to catch some fish for supper, when he remarked a very brilliant star in the west, which he would have taken for Venus if he had not
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- ↑ According to Tycho, it had been seen by mariners on the 9th. In a copy of Cometæ anno humanitatis 1577 a 10 viiiibris . . . adparentis descriptio, by Bart. Scultetus (Gorlicii, 1578), which I picked up at Copenhagen some years ago, and which now belongs to the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, there is written in a neat hand the following on the last blank page:—"Ego Londini in Anglia cometam hoc libro descriptum, et 2 die Nouembris visum, tertio obseruare coepi ut potui radio nautico necdum sesquipedali, ita ut triangulum faceret cometa cum stellis subnotatis, caudæ arcu comprehendente gradus 6m. 30 et amplius." [Then follow distance measures on November 3, 9, 13, 15, 24, and 25, but without indication of time.] "Tanto lumine corruscabat hic cometes primo meo aspectu idque per nubes obuersantes, ut antequam integram ejus formam vidissem, Lunam esse suspicarer, quam tamen eo tum loci et temporis lucere non potuisse statim, idque in tanto maiore admiratione, colligebam."
