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From a Text Written by Tycho Brahe
Fantastic depiction of the great astronomer Tycho Brahe in his observatory on Hven. The depiction shows the scientist at the center, with his dog, enlarged when compared to the others who worked with him. This woodblock originally appeared in the very rare and desirable Astronomicae instauratae mechanica, which was published by Levinus Hulsius and written by Brahe himself. This book contained the characters "Rosenkrans" and "Guldestere" in one of the woodblock engravings: these Danish characters appeared shortly before the release of the triumphal Hamlet.
This fantastic depiction of Brahe shows him pointing up at the stars with his companion at his feet. While some have referred to Brahe's student Kepler his "the nobleman's housedog," this is in fact a real dog, and not the younger German astronomer. Many instruments dot the image, including clocks, astrolabes, armillary spheres, celestial globes, and much more. The sun smiles (literally) down on the whole scene, and the title at the top reads "Effigies Tychonis Brahe O.F. Aedificii. . ."
Tycho Brahe was an astronomer noted for his highly precise observations, which allowed him to prove that the Ptolemaic worldview was incorrect. However, he still believed that the earth was too heavy to rotate around the sun, so he proposed a geo-heliocentric view in which the Sun rotates around the Earth, but all other non-moon satellites rotate around the Sun. This is the same as a Copernican system under a coordinate transformation. He lived on his Danish island until his exile to Bohemia with his coterie of pets, including a moose who met an alcoholic's fate.
![[The October, November, and December Sky -- Aquarius, Andromeda, Pisces, Pegasus, Aries, Phoenix, Grus, Lacerta, Triangle, etc.]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/82779.jpg)
![[Delphinus]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/70623.jpg)