Tycho's New Star
A new star blazed up in Cassiopeia, and a young Danish astronomer used it to prove the heavens could change.
What was reported
On the evening of 11 November 1572, the 26-year-old Danish nobleman Tycho Brahe, walking back to Herrevad Abbey from his uncle's laboratory, noticed a brilliant new star in the constellation Cassiopeia, where none had been before. For a time it was as bright as Venus and could be seen by day.
At the time most scholars followed Aristotle in believing that the heavens beyond the Moon were perfect and unchanging. Tycho measured the star carefully and found it didn't shift against the background stars as a nearby object would.
Explanations offered
He concluded it lay far beyond the Moon, proving the heavens could change, and published his findings in 1573. It was a supernova, a white dwarf star blowing itself apart thousands of light years away, and its remnant is still studied by X-ray telescopes.
- When
- 11 November 1572
- Where
- Herrevad Abbey, Skåne, Sweden
- Witnesses
- Tycho Brahe and observers across Europe
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.