After a long hiatus, uraniblog is active!

Why uraniblog?

One of my very first internet aliases (perhaps even a BBS alias) was uraniborg. Hence, uraniblog the blog.

Uraniborg was the name of the observatory operated by Tycho Brahe, the famous and quarrelsome 16th century astronomer. Frankly, he was a bit of a jerk, and he lost part of his nose in a dueling match. He also held to a geocentric view of the solar system. However, he made excellent and comprehensive observations including valuable data on the orbits of the planets. He was joined by Johannes Kepler who, after Tycho's death, developed his laws of planetary motion and ushered in the heliocentric model of the solar system. Kepler's successful model of the solar system was due in large part to the excellent observational data recorded by Tycho.

I love a good heliocentric model... three cheers for Kepler and Brahe!