Skip to main content

Secondary sourceBook1627

Rudolphine Tables

Johannes Kepler · 1627

Johannes Kepler's 1627 star catalogue and planetary tables, built on decades of precise observations collected by Tycho Brahe and named for their shared patron, Emperor Rudolf II.

The tables rest entirely on Tycho's lifetime of observations, and its frontispiece honours him as the source of the data.

Ask Tycho Brahe about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Two-page scan of an early 17th-century book: on the left, an engraved frontispiece of a domed rotunda with columns, astronomical instruments and figures, and a tablet reading Tabulae Rudolphinae; on the right, a title page in Latin with large capitals announcing Tabulae Rudolphinae by Johannes Kepler, dated 1627, with a red library stamp at top right.
Johannes Kepler, Tabulae Rudolphinae, 1627.

About this source

What it is

The Rudolphine Tables is a star catalogue and set of planetary tables published by Johannes Kepler in 1627. It was written in Latin and based on observational data gathered by Tycho Brahe and his team, including positions for over a thousand stars Brahe had measured himself. The frontispiece pictures Tycho in the Temple of Urania.

Why it matters

Brahe began this project with his patron Emperor Rudolf II but died before it was finished; Kepler, who inherited Brahe's data and his position as imperial mathematician, completed and published the tables decades later despite financial struggles and war. The tables were far more accurate than earlier ones, showing the real-world payoff of Brahe's exacting measurements, even though Kepler used them to support a Copernican model that differed from Brahe's own.

Look closer

  • Why do you think the tables were named after Rudolf II rather than Brahe or Kepler?
  • What does the frontispiece's depiction of Brahe suggest about how he was remembered?
  • Why might Brahe's relatives have fought with Kepler over control of the data?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Tycho Brahe sources

Meet the AI Tycho Brahe →
Book

Primary source

De Nova Stella

Tycho Brahe · 1573

Engraved plan of Uraniborg, Tycho Brahe's observatory on Hven. Title text across the top reads Arcis Uraniburgi. A central circular courtyard holds a blue-roofed main building, surrounded by diamond-shaped gardens and tree-filled grounds, enclosed by a fortified wall with corner towers.Artifact

Primary source

Uraniborg

1576-1580

Hand-coloured engraving titled 'Quadrans Muralis sive Tichonicus'. Tycho Brahe sits on a wall quadrant in a multi-storey observatory with arched galleries, assistants at instruments and a table, a dog, and a globe.Painting

Primary source

Quadrans Muralis sive Tichonicus

Tycho Brahe · 1598

Scanned page of handwritten manuscript with a geometric diagram at top: circles, lines radiating from a central point labeled a, and a compass-like construction with labels including c. Below are several lines of cursive handwritten Latin-style text, some struck through.Diary entry

Primary source

Brahe notebook page

Tycho Brahe

Engraved print portrait of a bearded man with a large ruff collar, a fur-trimmed cloak, and chain necklaces with a medallion, shown bust-length within an arched frame. Coats of arms with name labels surround the arch and pillars, and a Latin inscription appears below.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of Tycho Brahe (without a hat)

Jacques de Gheyn II

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Tycho Brahe now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions