Dec 14, 2019
Danish astronomer and astrologer (those used to be synonyms), Tycho Brahe, was born Dec. 14, 1546 (d. 1601). He founded the practice of careful observation and measurement of the night sky on a systematic basis, and created astronomical observatories in several places in Denmark and in Prague to practice his craft.
In 1572 he observed a supernova, or a “new star/stella nova” as he called it - once and for all puncturing the notion that the night sky was an unchangeable entity.