Globus Magnus

The illustration is reproduced from: Tycho Brahe (1598) Astronomia Instauratae Mechanica, now in the Royal Library, Copenhagen.

Tycho spent most of the time 1569-70 in Augsburg as the astronomical collaborator of the city mayor. One of the outcomes was that he had a wooden globe of five feet diameter constructed. Ten years later when he had assured himself that the globe kept a spherical form it was provided with poles and divided circles for reading and for transforming between celestial coordinates. After a further 15 years of work he had marked the accurate positions of 1000 fixed stars on the surface. Tycho's celestial globe stood as an impressive monument to his life's work.

The globe went with Tycho to Bohemia, was brought back as booty of war in 1632 and was placed at the Observatory (the Round Tower) in Copenhagen where it was destroyed in the great fire of October 1728.