Tycho took on his program of observations because Ptolemy's Almagest was giving bad predictions, so he knew there was something wrong with Ptolemy.
Like Ptolemy, Tycho believed the sun revolved around the earth, but unlike Ptolemy, he had Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn revolving around the sun, which was certainly not Ptolemaic.
Tycho wanted to be the big hero who overthrew Ptolemy, but he didn't have the math-fu to do it. What he had were sharp eyes and observational competence. Sharp eyes that were a fraction of an inch from getting sliced open by the sword that hacked off the bridge of his nose in a duel in his younger days.
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Tycho took on his program of observations because Ptolemy's Almagest was giving bad predictions, so he knew there was something wrong with Ptolemy.
Like Ptolemy, Tycho believed the sun revolved around the earth, but unlike Ptolemy, he had Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn revolving around the sun, which was certainly not Ptolemaic.
Tycho wanted to be the big hero who overthrew Ptolemy, but he didn't have the math-fu to do it. What he had were sharp eyes and observational competence. Sharp eyes that were a fraction of an inch from getting sliced open by the sword that hacked off the bridge of his nose in a duel in his younger days.