第谷·布拉赫Tycho Brahe

第谷·布拉赫被他的父母Beate Bille和Otte 第谷·布拉赫取名为Tyge。他现在被称为“第谷·布拉赫”，因为那是他大约十五岁时采用的自己名字的拉丁化版本。为简单起见，我们在本传记中通篇使用第谷·布拉赫这个名字。Otte 第谷·布拉赫，即第谷·布拉赫的父亲，出身丹麦贵族，是丹麦国王最亲密支持者群体中的重要人物。Beate Bille，即第谷·布拉赫的母亲，也出身于一个重要家族，该家族产生过重要的教会人士和政治家。第谷·布拉赫是一对双胞胎儿子之一，但他的双胞胎兄弟出生后不久就夭折了。他的父母有一个年长的女儿，但第谷·布拉赫是他们的长子。

他出生地的图片在THIS LINK。

第谷·布拉赫两岁时发生了一件奇怪的事。他的叔叔Jorgen Brahe（用第谷·布拉赫自己的话来说，例如见[5]）：——

……在我最早的年少时期，未经我父母知情，把我带走了。

这是一件奇怪的事，因为它似乎没有引起任何家庭纠纷，他的父母也没有试图把他要回来。Jorgen Brahe和他的妻子Inger Oxe没有自己的孩子，他们充当第谷·布拉赫的养父母，直到Jorgen去世。Jorgen Brahe和他的兄弟Otte 第谷·布拉赫一样，是丹麦的显贵，而Inger Oxe是Peder Oxe的姐妹，Peder Oxe是Rigsraads的成员，该治理委员会由20名国王顾问组成。事实上，第谷·布拉赫在教育方面从养母Inger Oxe那里受益最多，她像她家族的其他成员一样有学术兴趣，而Brahe家族和Bille家族则很少有时间从事学术追求。

第谷·布拉赫指挥Tostrup Castle，正是在那座城堡里，第谷·布拉赫从被Jorgen带走时起一直住到六岁。我们不应给人这样的印象，即他在这段时间没有旅行，因为他的父母有许多行政职责使他们外出，很可能第谷·布拉赫有时会随其中一人同行。1552年，Jorgen被授予Vordingborg Castle的指挥权，这是一次晋升，担任更重要的角色。大约在第谷·布拉赫随养父母搬到Vordingborg一年后，他开始上学，几乎可以肯定上的是附属于当地大教堂的学校。尽管第谷·布拉赫的父亲Otte认为学习拉丁语是浪费时间，但他的养父母更希望他接受这种教育。第谷·布拉赫在这所学校上学直到十二岁，然后开始了他的大学学习。

1559年4月19日，第谷·布拉赫开始在哥本哈根大学学习。在那里，他遵照叔叔的意愿学习法律，但也学习了各种其他科目，并对天文学产生了兴趣。然而，正是1560年8月21日发生的日食，特别是它已被预测到这一事实，给他留下了如此深刻的印象，以至于他在一些教授的帮助下开始自己研究天文学。他购买了一本星历表以及诸如约翰尼斯·德·萨克罗博斯科的Tractatus de Sphaera Ⓣ（论球体）、彼得鲁斯·阿皮亚努斯的Cosmographia seu descriptio totius orbis Ⓣ（宇宙志或对整个世界的描述）和约翰·缪勒的De triangulis omnimodis Ⓣ（各种三角形）等书籍。

他的养父母决定让他去国外增长见识，1562年2月，他与一位旅伴出发前往莱比锡大学。天文学并非他正式学习的一部分，他学的是古典语言和文化，但他随身带上了自己的天文学书籍以及阿尔布雷希特·丢勒的星座图。他开始进行观测，到1563年8月，还在莱比锡大学时，他就开始记录这些观测。他记录的第二次观测是木星与土星的合，这对第谷·布拉赫后来的职业生涯意义重大。无论是基于尼古拉·哥白尼的还是基于克劳狄乌斯·托勒密的星表，都没有给出这次合的准确日期，克劳狄乌斯·托勒密的星表差了将近一个月，甚至尼古拉·哥白尼的星表也差了好几天。第谷·布拉赫带着一个还不到十七岁的人的自信，认为自己能做得更好——后来证明他是对的！

第谷·布拉赫现在在莱比锡跟随巴托洛缪·舒尔茨学习天文学，舒尔茨教了他一些获得更精确观测结果的技巧。他知道精确的观测需要好的仪器，于是开始购置仪器。第谷·布拉赫于1565年5月回到家中，次月，他的叔叔约根在营救国王时献出了生命。他的父亲——此时指挥着赫尔辛堡城堡——和母亲承担起了照顾这个还不到十八岁的年轻人的责任。1566年，他又出发旅行，先访问了维滕贝格大学，然后访问了罗斯托克大学。在罗斯托克期间，他与另一名丹麦学生发生争执，在随之而来的决斗中，第谷·布拉赫的鼻子被削掉了一部分。其后果之一是第谷·布拉赫对医学和炼金术产生了兴趣。

1567年4月回家后，他用银和金制作了一个人造鼻子。然而，他终生毁容，他的肖像画显示了这种毁容，而实际情况几乎肯定比画家所描绘的更严重。第谷·布拉赫的父亲热切希望他尽快从政，但第谷·布拉赫不知怎么说服了父亲，让他再次出国旅行。他先重访了罗斯托克，然后去了巴塞尔、弗赖堡和奥格斯堡。第谷·布拉赫已经研究改进观测仪器有一段时间了，但在奥格斯堡时，他设计了一些自己的仪器，并设法找到了一位赞助人来承担一件重要新仪器的费用。大约一个月内，他建造了一个巨大的象限仪，并竖立在他赞助人位于城外的庄园里。它非常精确，但过于庞大，需要许多仆人才能对准，因此每晚只能进行一次观测。彼得吕斯·拉米斯当时也在德国访问，在奥格斯堡时得知了第谷·布拉赫的大象限仪，于是两人会面，进行了深入的天文学讨论。第谷·布拉赫开始建造另一件仪器，这次是一个大型的木制天球仪。

接到父亲生病的消息，第谷·布拉赫在1570年的最后几天回了家。他的父亲于1571年5月去世，不久之后，在他叔叔Steen Bille的帮助下，第谷·布拉赫开始在Herrevad Abbey建造一座天文台。他们还在那里建了一个炼金术实验室，因为炼金术正成为第谷·布拉赫的主要兴趣。1572年，他遇到了Kirsten Jorgensdatter，一个来自他家乡Knudstrup的女孩，但由于她是平民而他是贵族，他们不能合法结婚。然而，Kirsten作为他的普通法妻子与他同居。1572年对第谷·布拉赫来说在另一方面也很重要，正如Field所描述的[15]：——

1572年11月11日，经过长时间的炼金术实验后，他在傍晚的黑暗中现身，第一眼望向天空时，看到仙后座中多了一颗星，几乎正 overhead。他立刻召唤他的化学助手来确认那颗星确实存在。他不是第一个看到这颗新星（一颗超新星）的人，但他对它的观测（发表于1574年）在很大程度上证明了这颗星确实属于星空，而不仅仅是月下世界的一种局部现象（正如彗星通常被认为的那样）。这颗星现在通常被称为“第谷·布拉赫的超新星”。它使第谷·布拉赫的兴趣重新转向了天文学。

从1574年9月开始，第谷·布拉赫在哥本哈根大学讲授天文学，但在次年春天，当他从父亲的遗产中获得年收入后，便放弃了这一职位。他又踏上了出国旅行，首先访问了卡塞尔。黑森-卡塞尔的威廉四世伯爵大约15年前在卡塞尔建立了一座天文台，第谷·布拉赫对那里使用的方法印象深刻。他自己天文台的设计将受到卡塞尔天文台的影响，第谷·布拉赫与伯爵经常通信；关于他们之间的关系和通信的更多细节，见[21]。

离开卡塞尔后，第谷·布拉赫访问了法兰克福、巴塞尔，最后是威尼斯，然后在1575年底前返回丹麦。此时他已决定离开丹麦，定居巴塞尔，但丹麦国王弗雷德里克不会轻易失去他最杰出的科学家，因此他向第谷·布拉赫提出条件，诱使他在丹麦建立天文台。在一些第谷·布拉赫觉得不具吸引力的提议之后，国王将汶岛（今天称为文岛）[15]提供给第谷·布拉赫：-

在丹麦国王的财政帮助下，他继续在哥本哈根海峡的汶岛上建立了一座专门建造的天文台。这座天文台名为乌拉尼堡，配备了异常巨大且精确的仪器（其地下室还有一个炼金术实验室）。在乌拉尼堡，第谷·布拉赫进行了二十年的天文观测。

第谷·布拉赫绘制的乌拉尼堡主楼图，取自他的Astronomiae instauratae mechanicaⓉ（天文学与力学的修订）（1598年），见THIS LINK。
他来自同一著作的花园平面图，主楼位于中心，仆役住所、印刷工作室和其他建筑紧靠外墙内侧，见THIS LINK。
我们应该注意到，第谷·布拉赫的设计受到了他在威尼斯所见建筑的影响，并且也以高度几何化的形式建造。

第谷·布拉赫从乌拉尼堡观测到的最激动人心的天文事件之一是一颗彗星，他于1577年11月13日首次发现它。他在De mundi aetherei recentioribus phaenomenis Ⓣ（世界近期的以太现象）（1588年）中发表了他的记述，其中他从他的测量表明彗星并不比月球更接近地球这一事实得出宇宙论结论，这与亚里士多德的宇宙模型相矛盾。根据他的观测，第谷·布拉赫能够表明这颗彗星肯定比金星更远。

1584年，由于乌拉尼堡天文台已太小，无法容纳他所有的仪器，第谷·布拉赫在乌拉尼堡附近建造了第二座天文台，名为星堡。
你可以在THIS LINK看到这座天文台的平面图。

这是第谷·布拉赫最活跃地制造重要新仪器的时期。托伦写道[32]：-

由于第谷·布拉赫制作并描述过的仪器数量众多、种类繁多，以前的评论者曾假定他制作仪器纯粹是为了让他的仪器制造匠们保持忙碌。然而事实上，这些仪器的建造过程可以在他的日志中追溯，并可被合理化为若干系列实验，这些实验直到16世纪80年代中期才产生出他的主要仪器。这十年的过程对第谷·布拉赫一生中理论工作的进展产生了相当大的影响。它也妨碍了历史对他仪器精度的理解。

⟦N1⟧在[22]中指出：-

第谷·布拉赫在观测的描述与实践之间有着惊人的一致。

第谷·布拉赫在[38]和[39]中，对第谷·布拉赫观测的精度做了仔细研究。⟦N2⟧在评论38]时写道：-

这项研究的结果很有趣，也很好地说明了第谷·布拉赫仪器的精度。被测试的仪器有墙象限仪、旋转木象限仪、旋转钢象限仪、天文六分仪和赤道浑仪，最后一种直接测量赤纬。除了偶尔有些时期某件或另一件仪器明显失调——顺便说一句，只有这类研究才能显示出来——观测误差大多落在约0.5'到1.0'之间，也就是说，大约相当于用于比较的标准的精度。因此，正如早先对恒星的研​​究一样，约翰内斯·开普勒关于第谷·布拉赫的观测可以信任到优于两分钟的看法得到了充分证实。

在他的许多发现中，第谷·布拉赫发现黄赤交角自克劳狄乌斯·托勒密时代以来已经减小，但正如[24]中所解释的，由于克劳狄乌斯·托勒密的错误，他得到了一个不正确的值。

第谷·布拉赫今天也许最为人所知的是他的太阳系理论，该理论基于一个静止的地球，月球和太阳围绕地球旋转。根据第谷·布拉赫的理论，其他行星围绕太阳旋转。事实上，在年轻时，第谷·布拉赫曾被尼古拉·哥白尼的以太阳为中心的模型所说服，但他坚信理论必须得到实验证据的支持，这使他偏离了该模型。当然，问题在于，在尼古拉·哥白尼的以太阳为中心的模型中，应当观测到视差位移，但尽管第谷·布拉赫试图测量这种位移，却未能探测到任何位移。对此有两种可能的解释：要么地球是固定的，要么宇宙的尺度大得令人难以置信。我们今天知道，两者中正确的是第二种，而且尺度如此之大，以至于第谷·布拉赫用他的仪器根本没有希望测量视差。恒星视差的首次测量是在1838年由弗里德里希·威廉·贝塞尔完成的，他发现天鹅座61的视差为0.3"。尽管第谷·布拉赫的测量质量很高，这个值仍比第谷·布拉赫的观测误差小约100倍。事实上，第谷·布拉赫并不是第一个提出行星围绕太阳旋转的地球中心模型的人，因为埃拉斯穆斯·赖因霍尔德在几年前就已经这样做了。然而，罗森在[26]中有说服力地论证，第谷·布拉赫并不知道埃拉斯穆斯·赖因霍尔德的理论。

国王弗雷德里克于1588年4月去世，他的儿子克里斯蒂安（后来成为国王克里斯蒂安四世）尚年幼，因此任命了一位摄政。然而，对第谷·布拉赫的支持仍在继续，他向国务委员会提出了一项计划，允许他的子女继承乌拉尼堡。他的八个孩子中有六个活了下来。他有两个儿子：第谷·布拉赫，生于1581年，以及乔治，生于1583年。他还有四个女儿：柯尔斯滕生于1573年，玛格达莱妮生于1574年，伊丽莎白生于1579年，塞西莉生于1582年。由于柯尔斯滕是第谷·布拉赫的普通法妻子，他们的子女不能继承。然而，第谷·布拉赫提出了一项专利，赋予乌拉尼堡某种类似大学的地位，并赋予其主管某种类似大学校长地位的身份。它还规定，主管职位的继承将优先考虑“第谷·布拉赫自己的”子女。或许令人惊讶的是，尽管国家试图阻止接受普通法妻子，第谷·布拉赫的专利还是被接受了，这清楚地表明了他所受到的高度尊重（也许还因为许多家人和朋友都在国务委员会中）。

在年轻时，第谷·布拉赫在与他人交往中是个公正的人。尽管按照现代标准，他对文岛居民的待遇很差，在居民眼中也是如此，但在当时，领主苛刻对待其臣民是常态。然而在1590年代，第谷·布拉赫的性格似乎发生了变化，他对文岛居民和乌拉尼堡的学生助手的待遇都变得不合理。他总是自视甚高，也许到了这个阶段，他对自身重要性的看法（他视自己为喜帕恰斯和克劳狄乌斯·托勒密的天然继承者，一个远比国王重要的人物）已经让他冲昏了头脑。关于他女儿玛格达莱妮与曾在乌拉尼堡担任助手五年的格利乌斯的婚事的谈判破裂，给第谷·布拉赫带来了极大的悲痛和家庭不和。他与年轻的国王克里斯蒂安闹翻，原因是他没有修缮罗斯基勒的贤士教堂，克里斯蒂安的父亲弗雷德里克就葬在那里，尽管该教堂位于一处为第谷·布拉赫提供可观收入的庄园上。克里斯蒂安明确表示，曾给予第谷·布拉赫的关于乌拉尼堡将继续由其子女管理的承诺不再有效。

第谷·布拉赫于1597年关闭了他在汶岛的天文台（最后一次有记录的观测是在那年3月15日），并搬到了哥本哈根。然而，他在那里并不顺利，于是他带着家人和仪器离开了丹麦，去寻求支持并寻找一个可以继续工作的地方[15]：-

1599年，他被任命为神圣罗马帝国皇帝鲁道夫二世在布拉格（当时是神圣罗马帝国的首都）的御用数学家。约翰内斯约翰内斯·开普勒作为助手加入了他，帮助进行数学计算。第谷·布拉赫希望这项工作能证明他的宇宙模型的真实性，在这个模型中，地球（月球围绕它运行）静止在宇宙的中心，太阳围绕地球转（所有其他行星都围绕太阳运行，因此随太阳一起绕地球转）。

第谷·布拉赫在布拉格重新开始观测。他从鲁道夫那里获得了支持，让约翰内斯·开普勒和他自己根据第谷·布拉赫38年来记录的观测资料编制一套新的天文表。这些表将被称为Rudolphine Tables，以向他们的赞助者致敬。然而，第谷·布拉赫在彼得·沃克·乌尔西努斯·罗兹姆贝克宫用餐十一天后去世，原因是遵守当时的礼仪，拒绝在主人之前离开餐桌。约翰内斯·开普勒描述了他的死亡（例如见[5]）：-

第谷·布拉赫比平时更久地憋着尿，一直坐着。虽然他喝得有点过量，膀胱感到压力，但他对健康状况的担忧不如对礼仪的担忧。等他回到家时，他已经无法再排尿了。最后，伴随着最剧烈的疼痛，他勉强排出了一些尿，但仍然阻塞。随后是不间断的失眠；肠道发热；以及逐渐出现的谵妄。……在他生命的最后一夜，在一切都很愉快的谵妄中，像作曲家创作歌曲一样，第谷·布拉赫一遍又一遍地说着这些话：“不要让我看起来是白活了一场。”

费尔德写道[15]：-

第谷·布拉赫去世后，约翰内斯·开普勒接替他成为御用数学家。第谷·布拉赫使用开放式瞄准器（直到大约1609年望远镜才用于天文学）进行的行星位置观测，比他的前辈们所做的任何观测都精确得多。这些观测使约翰内斯·开普勒（与第谷·布拉赫不同，他是尼古拉·哥白尼的坚定追随者）得以推导出他的行星运动三定律（1609年，1619年），并编制天文表，即《鲁道夫星表》（乌尔姆，1627年），其持久的精确性在很大程度上使天文学家们相信了哥白尼理论的正确性。然而，至少直到17世纪中叶，大多数天文学家仍然青睐第谷·布拉赫的行星系统模型。它的优点是避免了将运动归于地球所引入的问题。

Tycho Brahe was given the name Tyge by his parents Beate Bille and Otte Brahe. He is now known as "Tycho" since that is the Latinised version of his name that he adopted when he was about fifteen years old. For simplicity we shall use the name Tycho throughout this biography. Otte Brahe, Tycho's father, was from the Danish nobility and was an important man among the Danish King's closest group of supporters. Beate Bille, Tycho's mother, also came from an important family which had produced leading churchmen and politicians. Tycho was one of twin sons, but his twin died shortly after birth. His parents had one older daughter but Tycho was their eldest son.

A picture of his birthplace is at THIS LINK.

A strange episode occurred when Tycho was two years old. His uncle, Jorgen Brahe (in Tycho's own words, see for example [5]):-

... without the knowledge of my parents took me away with him while I was in my earliest youth.

It was a strange episode since it did not appear to cause any family disputes nor did his parents try to take him back. Jorgen Brahe and his wife Inger Oxe had no children of their own, and they acted as foster parents to Tycho until Jorgen's death. Jorgen Brahe, like his brother Otte Brahe, was a leading Danish noble while Inger Oxe was the sister of Peder Oxe who was a member of the Rigsraads, the governing council consisting of 20 advisors to the King. In fact Tycho benefited most on the educational side from his foster mother Inger Oxe who had scholarly interests as did other members of her family, while the Brahes and the Billes had little time for scholarly pursuits.

Jorgen Brahe commanded Tostrup Castle, and it was in that castle that Tycho lived from the time he was taken by Jorgen until he was six years old. We should not give the impression that he did not travel during this time, for his parents had many administrative duties which took them away and it is likely that Tycho sometimes went with one of them. In 1552 Jorgen was given the command of Vordingborg Castle, which was a promotion to a more important role. About a year after Tycho moved to Vordingborg with his foster parents he began to attend school, almost certainly attending that attached to the local cathedral. Although Tycho's father Otte considered learning Latin a waste of time, his foster parents were much keener that he should receive this type of education. Tycho attended this school until he was twelve years old, then began his university studies.

On 19 April 1559 Tycho began his studies at the University of Copenhagen. There, following the wishes of his uncle, he studied law but also studied a variety of other subjects and became interested in astronomy. It was, however, the eclipse which occurred on 21 August 1560, particularly the fact that it had been predicted, that so impressed him that he began to make his own studies of astronomy helped by some of the professors. He purchased an ephemeris and books such as Sacrobosco's Tractatus de Sphaera Ⓣ, Apianus's Cosmographia seu descriptio totius orbis Ⓣ and Regiomontanus's De triangulis omnimodis Ⓣ.

His foster parents decided that he should gain experience abroad and in February 1562 he set off with a travelling companion to go to the University of Leipzig. Astronomy was not officially part of his studies, these were classical languages and culture, but he had bought his astronomy books with him together with Dürer's constellation maps. He began making observations and by August 1563, while still at the University of Leipzig, he began to keep a record of these observations. The second observation he recorded was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn which proved significant for Tycho's subsequent career. Neither tables based on Copernicus nor on Ptolemy gave the correct date for the conjunction, Ptolemy's being out by nearly a month and even Copernicus's being out by days. Tycho, with the confidence of someone not yet seventeen, thought he could do better - and he later proved himself to be right!

Tycho now studied astronomy with Bartholomew Schultz at Leipzig who taught him some tricks to obtain more accurate observations. He knew that accurate observations required good instruments and he began to acquire them. Tycho returned home in May 1565 and in the following month his uncle Jorgen gave his life in rescuing the King. His father, who now commanded Helsingborg Castle, and mother assumed responsibility for the young man who was still under eighteen. In 1566 he was off on his travels again, visiting first the university in Wittenberg and then that in Rostock. While in Rostock he was involved in an argument with another Danish student and in the resulting duel Tycho had part of his nose cut off. A consequence of this was that Tycho developed an interest in medicine and alchemy.

After his return home in April 1567 he had an artificial nose made from silver and gold. He was, however, disfigured for life and his portraits show the disfigurement which was almost certainly worse than what the artists portrayed. Tycho's father was keen that he should quickly take up a political career but somehow Tycho persuaded his father to let him make another trip abroad. He first revisited Rostock, then went to Basel, Freiburg, and Augsburg. Tycho had been working on improved instruments for observing for a while, but when in Augsburg he designed some of his own and managed to obtain a patron to underwrite the cost of a major new instrument. In about a month he had a huge quadrant constructed and erected in the estate of his patron outside the city. It was very accurate but was so massive that it required many servants to align it so only one observation could be made each night. Peter Ramus was also on a visit to Germany and while in Augsburg he learnt of Tycho's great quadrant leading to meetings at which the two engaged in deep astronomical discussions. Tycho began constructing another instrument, this time a large celestial globe made from wood.

Receiving word that his father was ill, Tycho returned home during the last few days of 1570. His father died in May 1571 and soon after, with the help of his uncle Steen Bille, Tycho began constructing an observatory in Herrevad Abbey. They also built an alchemy laboratory there since alchemy was becoming a major interest for Tycho. In 1572 he met Kirsten Jorgensdatter, a girl from his home town of Knudstrup, but since she was a commoner and he was a noble, they could not marry legally. Kirsten lived with him, however, as his common law wife. The year 1572 was significant for Tycho in another way as described by Field [15]:-

On 11 November 1572, he emerged into the dark of the early evening, after a long stint of alchemical experimentation, and his first glance at the sky showed him an extra star in the constellation of Cassiopeia, almost directly overhead. He instantly summoned his chemical assistant to confirm that the star really was there. He was not the first to see the new star (a supernova) but his observations of it (published in 1574) did much to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the star really belonged to the firmament and was not merely a local phenomenon in the sublunary world (as comets were generally believed to be). The star is now usually known as 'Tycho's supernova'. It turned Tycho's interest back to astronomy.

Beginning in September 1574 Tycho lectured on astronomy at the University of Copenhagen but gave up in the following spring when he received an annual income from his father's estate. He set off on another trip abroad, first visiting Kassel. The Landgraf Wilhelm IV of Hessen-Kassel had founded an observatory at Kassel about 15 years earlier and Tycho was very impressed by the methods used there. The design of his own observatory would be influenced by that at Kassel and Tycho corresponded frequently with the Landgraf; see [21] for more details of their relationship and correspondence.

Leaving Kassel, Tycho visited Frankfurt, Basel and finally Venice before returning to Denmark by the end of 1575. By this time he had made a decision to leave Denmark and to settle in Basel, but King Frederick of Denmark was not going to lose his most eminent scientist easily so he made offers to Tycho to entice him to set up an observatory in Denmark. After some offers which Tycho did not find attractive, the King offered Tycho the island of Hven (called today Ven) [15]:-

With financial help from the King of Denmark, he went on to set up a purpose-built observatory, on the island of Hven in Copenhagen Sound. The observatory, called Uraniborg, was equipped with exceptionally large and accurate instruments (and with an alchemical laboratory in its basement). At Uraniborg Tycho made twenty years' worth of astronomical observations.

Tycho's drawing of the main building at Uraniborg, taken from his Astronomiae instauratae mechanica Ⓣ (1598) is at THIS LINK.
His plan of the gardens, from the same work, with the main building in the centre and servants' quarters, a printing studio, and other buildings just inside the outer walls is at THIS LINK.
We should note that Tycho's design was influenced by buildings he had seen in Venice, and was also constructed in a highly geometrical form.

One of the most exciting astronomical events which Tycho observed from Uraniborg was a comet which he first spotted on 13 November 1577. He published his account in De mundi aetherei recentioribus phaenomenis Ⓣ (1588) where he draws cosmological conclusions from the fact that his measurements show that the comet is not closer to Earth than the Moon, contradicting Aristotle's model of the cosmos. From his observations Tycho was able to show that the comet was certainly further away than Venus.

In 1584, with the observatory of Uraniborg now too small to house all his instruments, Tycho built a second one named Stjerneborg adjacent to Uraniborg.
You can see a plan of this observatory at THIS LINK.

This was the time when Tycho was most active in producing major new instruments. Thoren writes [32]:-

Because of the number and variety of instruments made and described by Tycho, previous commentators have assumed that he made instruments for the sheer sake of keeping his instrument-makers busy. In fact, however, their construction can be traced in his logs and rationalized as several series of experiments which only produced his major instruments in the mid-1580's. The ten-year process had considerable consequences for progress of Tycho's theoretical work during his life. It has also obscured historical understanding of the accuracy of his instruments.

Maeyama notes in [22]:-

Tycho's marvellous agreement between the description and practice of observations.

Wesley, in [38] and [39], makes a careful study of the accuracy of Tycho's observations. Swerdlow, reviewing 38] writes:-

The results of the study are interesting, and speak well for the accuracy of Tycho's instruments. Those tested are the mural quadrant, revolving wooden quadrant, revolving steel quadrant, astronomical sextant, and equatorial armillary, the last measuring declinations directly. Aside from occasional periods when one or another instrument was distinctly out of adjustment - as, by the way, only a study of this kind can show - the observations have errors falling mostly between about 0.5' and 1.0', that is, about the accuracy of the standard used for comparison. Thus, as was also the case in the earlier study of fixed stars, Kepler's belief that Tycho's observations could be trusted to better than two minutes is amply confirmed.

Among his many discoveries Tycho found that the obliquity of the ecliptic had decreased since the time of Ptolemy but, as explained in [24], he obtained an incorrect value due to errors by Ptolemy.

Tycho is perhaps best known today for his theory of the solar system which is based on a stationary Earth round which the Moon and Sun revolve. The other planets, according to Tycho's theory, revolve round the Sun. In fact in his younger days Tycho had been convinced by Copernicus's Sun centred model but his firm belief that theory must be supported by experimental evidence led him away. The problem was, of course, that in the Sun centred model of Copernicus a parallax shift should be observed but despite his attempts to measure such a shift, Tycho could detect none. There were two possibilities to explain this: either the Earth was fixed, or the scale of the universe was unbelievably large. We know today that it is the second of these which is true, and that the scale is such that Tycho would have had no hope in measuring parallax with his instruments. The first measurement of the parallax of a star was in 1838 by Bessel who found 0.3" for the parallax of 61 Cygni. Despite the quality of Tycho's measurements, this value in about 100 times smaller that Tycho's observational errors. In fact Tycho was not the first to propose the Earth centred model with the planets rotating round the Sun for Erasmus Reinhold had done so a few years earlier. However Rosen in [26] argues convincingly that Tycho did not know of Reinhold's theory.

King Frederick died in April 1588 and, his son Christian (who became King Christian IV) still being a child, a regent was appointed. Support for Tycho continued however, and he presented a scheme to the Rigsraads to allow his children to inherit Uraniborg. Six of his eight children had lived. He had two sons; Tycho, born in 1581, and Georg in 1583. He also had four daughters; Kirsten born in 1573, Magdalene in 1574, Elizabeth in 1579, and Cecilie in 1582. Because Kirsten was Tycho's common law wife, their children could not inherit. Tycho, however, presented a patent which gave Uraniborg something like university status, and the director something like the status of the head of a university. It also stated that succession to the headship would give preference to "Tycho Brahe's own". Perhaps surprisingly, since the state was attempting to stop the acceptance of common law wives, Tycho's patent was accepted, a sure sign of the high esteem in which he was held (and perhaps also due to many family and friends being on the Rigsraads).

In his younger days Tycho had been a fair man in his dealings with others. Although he had treated the inhabitants of Hven badly by modern standards, and also in their eyes, it was usual for a lord at this time to treat his subjects harshly. However in the 1590s Tycho's nature seemed to change and his treatment both of the inhabitants of Hven and of his student helpers at Uraniborg became unreasonable. He always thought a lot of himself and perhaps by this stage his view of his own importance (he saw himself as the natural successor to Hipparchus and Ptolemy, a far more important person than a King) had rather turned his head. Negotiations over the marriage of his daughter Magdalene to Gellius, who had been an assistant at Uraniborg for five years, fell apart and caused Tycho extreme grief and family upset. He fell out with the young King Christian by not repairing the Chapel of the Magi at Roskilde, where Christian's father Frederick was buried, despite it being on an estate which provided Tycho with a substantial income. Christian made it clear that the promise Tycho had been given that Uraniborg would continue under the direction of his children no longer held.

Tycho closed down his observatory on Hven in 1597 (the last recorded observation is on 15 March that year), and moved to Copenhagen. However, things did not go well for him there and he left Denmark with his family and his instruments to seek support and find somewhere to continue his work [15]:-

In 1599 he was appointed Imperial Mathematician to the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II, in Prague (then the capital of the Holy Roman Empire). Johannes Kepler joined him as an assistant, to help with mathematical calculations. Tycho intended that this work should prove the truth of his cosmological model, in which the Earth (with the Moon in orbit around it) was at rest in the centre of the Universe and the Sun went round the Earth (all other planets being in orbit about the Sun and thus carried round with it).

Tycho began observing again in Prague. He received support from Rudolph for Kepler and himself to compile a new set of astronomical tables based on Tycho's recorded observations over 38 years. These would be called the Rudolphine Tables as a tribute to their sponsor. However, Tycho died eleven days after dining at the palace of Peter Vok Ursinus Rozmberk as a result of adhering to the etiquette of the day and refusing to leave the dinner table before his host. Kepler describes his death (see for example [5]):-

Holding his urine longer than was his habit, Brahe remained seated. Although he drank a little overgenerously and experienced pressure on his bladder, he felt less concerned for his state of health than for etiquette. By the time he returned home he could not urinate any more. Finally, with the most excruciating pain, he barely passed some urine, but yet it was blocked. Uninterrupted insomnia followed; intestinal fever; and little by little delirium. ... During his last night, through the delirium in which everything was very pleasant, like a composer creating a song, Brahe these words over and over again: "Let me not seem to have lived in vain."

Field writes [15]:-

When Tycho died, Kepler succeeded him as Imperial Mathematician. Tycho's observations of planetary positions, which were made using instruments with open sights (a telescope was not used for astronomy until about 1609), were much more accurate than any made by his predecessors. They allowed Kepler, who (unlike Tycho) was a convinced follower of Copernicus, to deduce his three laws of planetary motion (1609, 1619) and to construct astronomical tables, the Rudolphine Tables (Ulm, 1627), whose enduring accuracy did much to persuade astronomers of the correctness of the Copernican theory. However, until at least the mid-seventeenth century, Tycho's model of the planetary system was that favoured by most astronomers. It had the advantage of avoiding the problems introduced by ascribing motion to the Earth.