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What did Tycho Brahe's observations of the Great Comet of 1577 prove?
Tycho's parallax measurements — comparing the comet's position from his observatory at Uraniborg against another site — showed the comet was much further than the Moon. That meant the comet was moving through what Aristotelian astronomy held to be unchanging crystal spheres, demolishing the medieval cosmology. Elliptical orbits would not be established until Kepler in the early 17th century.
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The Comet That Broke the Crystal Spheres In November 1577 a comet appeared over Europe so bright it cast shadows. A twenty-eight-year-old Dane measured its distance and demolished Aristotle's heavens.
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