In 1576, the wonderfully eccentric Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe began construction on his observatory dedicated to the muse of astronomy, Urania. Brahe may be history’s most interesting astronomer — he lost his nose in a duel, hired a clairvoyant dwarf named Jepp to be his court jester, had prickly relationships with Galileo and Kepler, and kept a drunken pet moose — while also making some pretty amazing discoveries. The Uraniborg observatory was paired with a subterranean counterpart, named Stjerneborg (“Star Castle”) and housed astronomical instruments, a library, and an alchemical laboratory to fuel his other interests. Uraniborg was destroyed in 1601 after Brahe’s death, but a reconstruction of Stjerneborg can still be visited on the island of Hven in Denmark.

Find out More:

Tycho Brache – The Galileo Project

“The crazy life and crazier death of Tycho Brahe, history’s strangest astronomer” – io9

“Tycho Brache: The Astronomer with a Drunken Moose” – Mental Floss