Uraniborg was the observatory and residence built by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe on the island of Hven, in the Sound between Denmark and Sweden. King Frederick II granted him the island and funds, and Tycho designed a Renaissance building with instruments, laboratories, a library and a garden. Its quadrants, sextants and armillary spheres were the most precise in Europe before the telescope, and from Hven he catalogued the positions of stars and followed planets with unprecedented accuracy. A second observatory, Stjerneborg, was built partly underground to protect instruments from wind. After the king died, Tycho lost royal favour and left in 1597. The buildings were later dismantled, but his data enabled Johannes Kepler to discover the laws of planetary motion.
Before and after
- 1574Construction of Selimiye Mosque
- from 12 July 1574 to 13 September 1574Conquest of Tunis
- from 1575 to 1675Dutch Golden Age
- 8 February 1575Founding of Leiden University
- 1576Founding of Uraniborg
- 4 November 1576Sack of Antwerp
- 1577Construction of Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge
- 28 June 1577Birth of Peter Paul Rubens
- from 1578 to 1590Ottoman–Safavid War
More in Universe & space
- 8 October 1604SN 1604
- 7 January 1610Galileo discovers the moons of Jupiter
- 25 October 1671Discovery of Iapetus
- 23 December 1672Discovery of Rhea
- 21 March 1684Discovery of Dione
- 21 March 1684Discovery of Tethys
The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 16th century.