VMs: Astronomical Notes, Comments, and Replies

["Robert Teague" <rteague@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

First, a minor correction:

In the list of numbers in my last post, I accidentally used 
EVA < t > instead of < k > for the number 6.

I think it's likely that < f > will turn out to be 0, but I'm looking
to find it used as such first. And the letter for 8 may turn out
to be < 8 >.

I'm trying to reserve all judgement as to the language or 
encoding scheme, but I will point out that a proper name
could still be recognized, and would give letter values.

I'm thinking in particular of f67v1. In the short line of text 
(4 letters.5 letters) to the left of the face between the dark
stars, the first word is 1572, which for me confirms that
it depicts Tycho's Star. (Granted that Tycho's face is iffy; 
it needs a much clearer picture to tell for sure.) The second
word could be "Tycho", or "Brahe".

Possible words to look for:

Tycho Brahe, Tycho de Brahe, Tyge Brahe, Tychonis Brahe,
De Nova Stella (the book he wrote on it), Cassiope, 
Cassiopeia, Cassieopeia

I could still be barking up the wrong tree, and it depicts
Kepler's Star-- the supernova of 1604 in Ophiuchus. 

One astronomical event that is conspicuous by its absence
is the Great Comet of 1577.  I've seen on several websites
a woodcut of the comet as seen over Prague. It may be that
the "galaxy" on f68r is actually the nucleus of the comet, and
f68r2 is its position in the sky. 

And f68v3 may be the eclipse of the Moon  8 December 1573.
The female face is the Earth; the rays are from the Sun, which
is covered.

I think the idea that the number of points of a star is a rough
estimate of its magnitude should be abandoned, as it's just
not working out.  In Tycho's book, there is a picture showing
where the nova was, and all the stars are eight-point, just
different sizes for magnitude.

I had forgotten about the change in calendar in the mid-16th
Century. Starry Night does not seem to take it into account.
Maybe that's why I'm having trouble identifying dates with
the year.

Robert
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