ABSTRACT
The Copernican theory of the solar system chiefly commended itself to astronomers by the improved planetary tables which accompanied it. The original tables which Copernicus himself had computed were revised and enlarged some years after his death by Erasmus Reinhold, who called his edition Tabulae Prutenicae in honour of his patron the Duke of Prussia. Tycho Brahe was born on December 14, 1546, at Knudstrup in Scania. He was the son of a Danish nobleman, and went as a boy to Copenhagen University. The instruments later constructed and employed by Tycho Brahe at Uraniborg were of several different types. Some were based on the armillary sphere of the ancient astronomers, which consisted of a combination of concentric, graduated metal circles representing the various circles of the celestial sphere, and which was employed to determine the celestial longitudes and latitudes of stars, etc.
