The Lunar Crater Tycho & The Astronomer Tycho Brahe
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 55° 40.881 E 012° 34.554
33U E 347589 N 6173279
Tycho is a prominent crater on the southern hemisphere of the moon. A bust of astronomer Tycho Brahe is located outside the Round Tower in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Waymark Code: WMHQT0
Location: Denmark
Date Posted: 08/06/2013
Views: 20
Tycho, a large lunar impact crater located in the southern highlands of the moon, is named in honor of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. The crater relatively young, abour 108 million years old. It is 52.6 miles in diameter and about 2.9 miles deep.
Tycho Brahe was born on December 14, 1546 in present day Sweden into a prominent Danish family. 1559, he attended the University of Copenhagen where he became interested in astronomy. He soon realized that Tycho progress in astronomy can only be achieved by continually making systematic, accurate observation. He modified existing instruments and invented new ones to compile and enormous amount of data on celestial bodies, without the aid of the yet-to-be invented telescope.
November 11, 1572, he observed a supernova in the constellation Cassiopeia which he described as a new star. In the resulting paper, De Nova Stella, he presented observational evidence to refute the prevailing Aristotelian belief in an unchanging universe.
As a patron of King Frederick II of Denmark he was given land on the island of Hven and the funding to build an observatory called Uraniborg. He later moved to Prague to become the official royal astronomer under the Holy Roman emperor Rudolph II. In 1588, he published his greatest work, Astronomiæ Instauratæ Progymnasmata (Introduction to the New Astronomy). After his death in 1601, he bequeath his data to Johannes Kepler. Kepler then used these data to devise the three laws of planetary motion.
The bust of Tycho Brahe is located outside the Rundetårn (Round Tower) of the Trinitatis Church, in Copenhagen. The life-size head and shoulders of the astronomer was carved in stone by Siegfried Wagner. The bust is resting on a 5' high by 2' square pedestal. Tycho Brahe has a long drooping moustache. He is wearing a large ruffled collar and a amulet around his neck. The sculpture was installed in 1932.
Below the bust is inscribed TYCHO BRAHE. A bronze plaque at the bottom of the pedestal is inscribed:
ASTRONOMEN
TYCHO BRAHE
1546 -1601
AS SIEGFRIED WAGNER
1874 - 1952
OPSTILLET 1932
KOBENHAVNS KOMMUNE KOBENHAVNS KULTURFOND