The Milky Way 



believe my eyes. To persuade myself that this 

 was no illusion, and to collect the testimony 

 of other witnesses, I called out the workmen 

 engaged in my laboratory and inquired of them, 

 as well as of all passers-by, if they saw, as I did, 

 the star which had appeared so suddenly. 

 I heard later that in Germany carters and 

 other working men had apprised astronomers of 

 a great apparition in the sky, which caused 

 a renewal of the usual jokes at the expense of 

 men of science. 



" The new star was tailless and free from any 

 nebulosity; it was in all points like the other 

 stars, only it scintillated more than stars of 

 the first magnitude. It exceeded in brightness 

 Sirius, Lyra and Jupiter, and could only be 

 compared to Venus at her least distance from 

 the earth. The distances from this star to 

 others of Cassiopea, which I measured the year 

 following with the greatest care, have con- 

 vinced me of its perfect immobility. 



" From the month of December 1572 its 

 brightness began to wane, being then equal to 

 Jupiter; but in January 1573 it had become 



less bright than Jupiter. It reached the second 

 p 245 



