My definition of the project

Comparing my circumstances to Tycho's:


My advantages:

  • Scientifically advanced culture, although the new right-wing Dark Ages may be hovering nearby

  • Astrology in disrepute

  • Better technology

    • accurate clocks

    • telescopes and satellites

    • personal computers

    • modern star catalogs

    • imaging detectors


My disadvantages:

  • poor funding - a few kilo$ maximum ( 1% of my country's GDP would be about $200B - easily adequate for the task)

  • no assistants - but computer capability compensates

  • short timespan - a couple of years investment, not enough to see precession easily or to wait for favorable geometries


I decided to execute the following project to emulate, in some way, Tycho's project to create a star catalog with a few arc minute accuracy

  • Build my own instrument and observatory, capable of making measurements similar to Tycho's

  • Use that instrument to capture a dataset parallel to Tycho's

  • Reduce that dataset to create a star catalog similar to Tycho's


I specifically have:

  • Not used modern clocks for the catalog - good clocks make the determination of a star's right ascension trivial

  • Not recreated Tycho's instruments (this is not a re-enactment exercise)

  • Not automated the entire process. Each measurement will be made by hand-guidance of my instrument

I specifically have:

  • Used optical aid - 1.5 inch aperture - I can, by eye, see third magnitude stars rarely from my site - most of Tycho's stars not visible

  • Used an imaging detector - to gain sufficient sensitivity to see all his stars

  • Used computers instead of assistants. I need to use 'goto' type pointing because most of his stars are not visible to me.

  • Used modern catalogs to aid in pointing, to verify performance, and to reduce zero-point errors


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