(p.409, Dictionary of Scientific Biography)

In this model, Brahe describes the universe with the earth at the center. The sun orbits the earth while the other planets revolve around the sun in the order of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. There is also a realm of fixed stars beyond the paths of the planetary orbits. In contradiction with the traditional Aristotelian view of the universe, Brahe believed the heavens were imperfect and could be changed.

Brahe's model of the universe was first worked out by 1583 and printed in 1588 in De mundi aetherei recentioribus phaenomenis, however, his model was never presented in great detail.

In spite of his extremely precise observations, Brahe could not detect a parallax for even a single star. If the Earth did in fact orbit the Sun, the stars would have to be infinitely distant. Brahe could not conceive of a universe so immense that an observer as accurate as himself could not detect any stellar parallax.

Even more convincing to Tycho was the fact that he believed he could measure the angular size of stars. The bright

Brahe believed it was necessary to build better instruments and to make use of them. This implied not only an abundance of precautions but also a very careful study of the instruments in order to discover their mechanical defects and to allow for them in computations. He believed one had to also allow for other permanent causes of error, such as atmospheric refraction. (Unfortunately, he thought refraction was negligible at altitudes above 70 ?.)

Brahe believed science and religion could go hand in hand. His loyalty to the Christian faith was one reason Brahe constructed a geocentric theory of the universe. Brahe's model was even used by the Catholic Church to defend its teachings to the public. To him, there was no conflict between science and religion.

At the time of its publishing, Brahe's model gained acceptance in many regions. However, the Tychonic model would have had greater validity if Brahe had not supported his case with silly arguments.

This method of scientific reasoning was incredibly successful for Brahe. His estimate of the length of the tropical year was only 2" too small. He determined the precision of the equinoxes exactly at 51" (Sarton 65). He discovered the length of the year within one second (Abell, Morriso, and

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