152 COSMOS. 



have been olDserved in China, and go back to the middle o.' 

 the second century before the Christian era, that for about 

 2000 years scarcely more than twenty or twenty-two of such 

 phenomena can be adduced with certainty. 



Before I proceed to general considerations, it seems not 

 inappropriate to quote the narrative of an eye-witness, and, 

 by dwelling on a particular instance, to depict the vividness 

 of the impression produced by the sight of a new star. " On 

 my return to the Danish islands from my travels in Germa- 

 ny," says Tycho Brahe, "I resided for some time with my 

 uncle, Steno Bille (ut aulicse vitse fastidium lenirem), in the 

 old and pleasantly situated monastery of Herritzwadt ; and 

 here I made it a practice not to leave my chemical labora- 

 tory until the evening. Raising my eyes, as usual, during 

 one of my walks, to the well-known vault of heaven, I ob- 

 served, with indescribable astonishment, near the zenith, in 

 Cassiopeia, a radiant fixed star, of a magnitude never be- 

 fore seen. In my amazement, I doubted the evidence of my 

 senses. However, to convince myself that it was no illusion, 

 and to have the testimony of others, I summoned my assist- 

 ants from the laboratory, and inquired of them, and of all 

 the country people that passed by, if they also observed the 

 star that had thus suddenly burst forth. I subsequently 

 heard that, in Germany, wagoners and other common peo- 

 ple first called the attention of astronomers to this great phe- 

 nomenon in the heavens — a circumstance which, as in the 

 case of non-predicted comets, furnished fresh occasion for the 

 usual raillery at the expense of the learned. 



" This new star," Tycho Brahe continues, " I found to be 

 v/ithout a tail, not surrounded by any nebula, and perfectly 

 like all other fixed stars, with the exception that it scintil- 

 lated more strongly than stars of the first magnitude. Its 

 brightness was greater than that of Sirius, a Lyree, or Jupi- 

 ter. For splendor, it was only comparable to Venus when 

 nearest to the earth (that is, when only a quarter of her 

 disk is illuminated). Those gifted with keen sight could, 

 when the air was clear, discern the new star in the daytime, 

 and even at noon. At night, when the sky was overcast, so 

 that all other stars were hidden, it was often visible through 

 the clouds, if they were not very dense (nubes non admo- 

 dum densas). Its distances from the nearest stars of Cassi- 

 opeia, which, throughout the whole of the following year, I 

 measured with great care, convinced me of its perfect immo- 

 bility. Already, in December, 1572, its brilUancy began to 



