TYCHOS glossary

File:Orbit5.gif

Animation of a binary star system

This is a glossary of terms, celestial bodies and researchers in the TYCHOS book, first published by Simon Shack on March 21st, 2018.

List of terms

Mainstream terms used in the TYCHOS book

Term	Description	Chapters bold in detail	Notes
binary star/binary system	a binary star is a star system consisting of two stars orbiting around their common barycenter. These systems, especially when more distant, often appear to the unaided eye as a single point of light, and are then revealed as multiple by other means.	1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 27, 28
adaptive optics	a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effect of incoming wavefront distortions by deforming a mirror in order to compensate for the distortion. It is used in astronomical telescopes to remove the effects of atmospheric distortion.	1
apparent magnitude	a number that is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth. The brighter an object appears, the lower its magnitude value (i.e. inverse relation).	35
Shack-Hartmann principle	an optical instrument used for characterizing an imaging system. It is a wavefront sensor commonly used in adaptive optics systems. Shack–Hartmann sensors are used to characterize eyes for corneal treatment of complex refractive errors.	1
Equation of Time	the discrepancy between two kinds of solar time. The word equation is used in the medieval sense of "reconcile a difference". The two times that differ are the apparent solar time, which directly tracks the diurnal motion of the Sun, and mean solar time, which tracks a theoretical mean Sun with noons 24 hours apart.	26
Sothic cycle	a period of 1,461 Egyptian civil years of 365 days each or 1,460 Julian years averaging 365¼ days each. During a Sothic cycle, the 365-day year loses enough time that the start of its year once again coincides with the heliacal rising of the star Sirius on 19 July in the Julian calendar.	25, 33
analemma	a diagram showing the variation of the position of the Sun in the sky over the course of a year, as viewed at a fixed time of day and from a fixed location on the Earth.	26
sidereal year	the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun once with respect to the fixed stars.	31
sidereal day	approximately 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4.0905 SI seconds. The sidereal day is 0.0084 seconds shorter than Earth's period of rotation relative to the fixed stars.	31
solar year/tropical year	the time that the Sun takes to return to the same position in the cycle of seasons, as seen from Earth; for example, the time from vernal equinox to vernal equinox, or from summer solstice to summer solstice.	31
solar day/civil day		31
anomalistic year	the time taken for the Earth to complete one revolution with respect to its apsides. Its average duration is 365.259636 days (365 d 6 h 13 min 52.6 s).	31
tidal locking	occurs when the long-term interaction between a pair of co-orbiting astronomical bodies drives the rotation rates into a harmonic ratio with the orbital period.	11
aberration of light	an astronomical phenomenon which produces an apparent motion of celestial objects about their true positions, dependent on the velocity of the observer. Aberration causes objects to appear to be displaced towards the direction of motion of the observer compared to when the observer is stationary.	34
apparent retrograde motion	the apparent motion of a planet in a direction opposite to that of other bodies within its system, as observed from a particular vantage point. Direct motion or prograde motion is motion in the same direction as other bodies.	5, 6, 7, 9
apsidal precession	the precession (rotation) of the orbit of a celestial body. More precisely, it is the gradual rotation of the line joining the apsides of an orbit, which are the points of closest and farthest approach.	28
axial tilt	the angle between an object's rotational axis and its orbital axis, or, equivalently, the angle between its equatorial plane and orbital plane.	8
circumbinary	a planet that orbits two stars instead of one. Because of the short orbits of some binary stars, the only way for planets to form is by forming outside the orbit of the two stars.	9, 14, 29
equinoctial precession	a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body. In astronomy, precession refers to any of several slow changes in an astronomical body's rotational or orbital parameters. An important example is the steady change in the orientation of the axis of rotation of the Earth, known as the precession of the equinoxes.	22
astronomical unit (AU)	a unit of length, roughly the distance from Earth to the Sun. However, that distance varies as Earth orbits the Sun, from a maximum (aphelion) to a minimum (perihelion) and back again once a year. Originally conceived as the average of Earth's aphelion and perihelion, it was defined exactly as 149,597,870,700 metres or about 150 million kilometres (93 million miles) since 2012.	5, 15, 17, 26, 32, 33, 36
right ascension (RA)
declination (DECL)
perigee
apogee
perihelion
aphelion
conjunction (inferior/superior)
prograde
retrograde
equinox
solstice
proper motion	the astronomical measure of the observed changes in the apparent places of stars or other celestial objects in the sky, as seen from the center of mass of the Solar System, compared to the abstract background of the more distant stars.	36
radial velocity	the rate of change of the distance between the object and the point. That is, the radial velocity is the component of the object's velocity that points in the direction of the radius connecting the object and the point. In astronomy, the point is usually taken to be the observer on Earth, so the radial velocity then denotes the speed with which the object moves away from or approaches the Earth.	36
Michelson-Morley experiment	experiment performed between April and July, 1887 by Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley in Cleveland, Ohio. It compared the speed of light in perpendicular directions, in an attempt to detect the relative motion of matter through the aether. The result was negative, in that the expected difference between the speed of light in the direction of movement through the presumed aether, and the speed at right angles, was found not to exist.	19
General Relativity (GR)	the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and the current description of gravitation in modern physics.	28
Binary Research Institute	The Binary Research Institute was formed in 2001 to support and fund research regarding the hypothesis that the Sun is part of a binary star system.	1, 14, 18, 24, 30
NEAVE planetarium	interactive sky map for exploring the stars and planets.	7, 8
SCOPE planetarium	free online model of solar system and night sky.	7
Stellarium	free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.	7, 8

TYCHOS-specific terms used in the TYCHOS book

Term	Description	Chapters bold in detail	Notes
TYCHOS	a revised model of our solar system. Its basic orbital configuration is based on the semi-Tychonian model as defined by Longomontanus in his Astronomia Danica (1622), a monumental work regarded as Tycho Brahe’s “testament”. Although the semi-Tychonic and the TYCHOS models are geometrically similar, they significantly differ in that the latter assigns an orbit to Earth – whereas the former considers Earth as a motionless (albeit diurnally-rotating) celestial body.	All
Annual Constant of Precession (ACP)		16, 19, 20, 22, 24, 27, 30
Empiric Sidereal Interval (ESI)		6, 7, 10
geoptical		34
PVP orbit		19
PVP constant		19
True Mean Synodic Period (TMSP)		11, 17, 27
Tychosium 2D	a bi-dimensional overhead view (as seen from above Earth's North Pole) of our Sun-Mars 'geoaxial' binary system.	21
Tychosium 3D		21
TYCHOS Great Year (TGY)		32

List of celestial bodies

Note: bodies with a higher apparent magnitude than ~4 (city) or 6 (faintest) are not visible with the naked eye

Celestial bodies (not) mentioned in the TYCHOS book

Name	App. magnitude	Description	Chapters bold in detail	Notes
Earth		Home.	All
Sun	-26.74	Our star, accompanied by Mars in a binary system.	All
Moon	-12.74	Moon of Earth.	Preface, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
Mercury	-2.6-5.7	Junior moon of the Sun.	Preface, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 27, 28, Epilogue
Venus	-4.9 to -3.8	Senior moon of the Sun.	1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 20, 27
Mars	-3.0-1.6	Binary companion of the Sun.	Preface, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 36, Epilogue
Jupiter	-2.94 to -1.6	P-type planet.	2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 26, 27, 29, 36
Saturn	-0.24-1.47	P-type planet.	2, 3, 6, 9, 13, 15, 29, 35, 36
Uranus	5.32-5.9	P-type planet.	9, 13, 15, 29
Neptune	7.78-8.02	P-type planet.	9, 13, 15, 29
Pluto	13.65-16.3	P-type planet.	9, 15, 29
Phobos	11.8	Senior moon of Mars.	3, 5
Deimos	12.89	Junior moon of Mars.	3, 5
Ganymede	4.38-4.61	Largest Galilean moon of Jupiter.	3
Io	5.02	Innermost Galilean moon of Jupiter.	3, 26
Europa	5.29	Smallest Galilean moon of Jupiter.	3
Callisto	5.65	2nd-largest Galilean moon of Jupiter.
Titan	8.2-9.0	Largest moon of Saturn.
Iapetus	10.2-11.9	3rd-largest moon of Saturn.
Rhea	10	2nd-largest moon of Saturn.
Tethys	10.2	2nd-brightest moon of Saturn.
Dione	10.4	3rd of inner moons of Saturn.
Enceladus	11.7	6th-largest moon of Saturn.
Mimas	12.9	Largest moon of Saturn.
Triton	13.47	Largest moon of Neptune.
Titania	13.9	Largest moon of Uranus.
Oberon	14.1	2nd-largest moon of Uranus.
Ariel	14.4	4th-largest moon of Uranus.
Umbriel	14.5	3rd-largest moon of Uranus.
Miranda	15.8	5th-largest moon of Uranus.
Main Asteroid Belt		Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.	14
Kuiper Belt		Kuiper object belt outside of orbit of Neptune.	14
Sirius	-1.46	Brightest star in the night sky, binary system.	1, 3, 4, 6, 32, 33
Vega	-0.02-0.07	5th-brightest star in the night sky.	5, 14, 19, 26, 36
Fomalhaut	1.16	18th-brightest star in the night sky. Binary star system with exoplanets, 2nd-brightest star with exoplanets, after Pollux.	14
Deneb	1.25	19th brightest star in the night sky.	35
Alpha Centauri	1.33	Binary/triple star system, closest to Earth. Exoplanet found around Proxima Centauri.	1, 35, 36
Regulus	1.4	21st brightest star in the night sky. 4+ star system. Near ecliptic.	6
Polaris	1.86-2.13	North Star, binary system.	Preface, 5, 8, 18, 19, 34, Epilogue
Delta Capricorni	2.81	Binary system.	7
Tau Ceti	3.5	Single star, possibly 5 exoplanets.	14
Thuban	3.65	PVP Pole Star over time.	19
Epsilon Eridani	3.74	Single star, exoplanet and asteroid belt supposed.	14
Beta Pictoris	3.86	Single star, exoplanet found.	14
55 Cancri	5.95	Binary star system, 5 exoplanets found.	14
Barnard's Star	9.51	Wandering star, highest proper motion.	Preface
Canopus	-0.74	2nd-brightest star in the night sky.
Arcturus	-0.05	4th-brightest star in the night sky.
Capella	0.03-0.16	6th-brightest star in the night sky, double binary star system.
Rigel	0.05-0.18	7th-brightest star in the night sky, brightest of Orion, 3 to 5 star system.
Procyon	0.34	8th-brightest star in the night sky, binary system.
Betelgeuse	0.0-1.3	9th-brightest star in the night sky, 2nd-brightest of Orion.
Achernar	0.40-0.46	10th-brightest star in the night sky, binary system.
Beta Centauri	0.61	11th-brightest star in the night sky. Triple star system.
Altair	0.76	12th-brightest star in the night sky, breaking up?
Alpha Crucis	0.76	13th-brightest star in the night sky. Multiple star system.
Aldebaran	0.75-0.95	14th-brightest star in the night sky. Likely hosting exoplanets.
Antares	0.6-1.6	15th-brightest star in the night sky. Likely largest known star.
Spica	0.97-1.04	16th-brightest star in the night sky, binary system.
Pollux	1.14	17th-brightest star in the night sky. Has the closest exoplanet to Earth.
Mimosa	1.23-1.31	20th-brightest star in the night sky, binary system.
Bellatrix	1.59-1.64	25th-brightest star in the night sky. Right shoulder of Orion (seen from Northern hemisphere, the left shoulder is Betelgeuse).
Pleiades	1.6	Seven stars appearing close together.
Gamma Crucis	1.64	Single star.
Alnilam	1.69	Central star of Orion's Belt. Single star.
Alnitak	1.77	Left star of Orion's Belt (seen from Northern hemisphere). Triple star system.
Alioth	1.77	31st-brightest star in the night sky. Leftmost and brightest star of the Big Dipper.
Dubhe	1.79	2nd-brightest star of the Big Dipper. Has a companion.
Alkaid	1.86	3rd-brightest star of the Big Dipper. Single star.
Castor	1.93	Triple star system.
Mizar	2.04	4th-brightest star of the Big Dipper. Visual double star, part of quadruple system with Alcor.
Saiph	2.09	Left foot of Orion (seen from Northern hemisphere, the right foot is Rigel).
Algol	2.12-3.39	Triple star system.
Mintaka	2.23	Right star of Orion's Belt (seen from Northern hemisphere). Multiple star system.
Merak	2.37	5th-brightest star of the Big Dipper. Single star.
Phecda	2.43	6th-brightest star of the Big Dipper. Astrometric binary.
Alderamin	2.51	Pole Star over time.
Megrez	3.31	7th-brightest (dimmest) star of the Big Dipper. Two companions.
Large Magellanic Cloud	0.9	The 3rd-closest galaxy to the Milky Way in the constellations of Dorado and Mensa.
Andromeda Galaxy	3.44	The nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way in the constellation of Andromeda.

List of researchers

Researchers referred to in the TYCHOS book

Name	Centuries	Description	Chapters	Notes
Simon Shack	21st	Author of TYCHOS.
Tycho Brahe	16/17th	Danish astronomer responsible for the development of the Tychonian model, upon which the TYCHOS is based.	Preface, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 18, 26, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36
Hipparchus	-2nd	Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician, is considered the founder of trigonometry but is most famous for his incidental discovery of precession of the equinoxes.	30, 32, 36
Sosigenes of Alexandria	-1st	Greek astronomer from Ptolemaic Egypt who, according to Roman historian Pliny the Elder, was consulted by Julius Caesar for the design of the Julian calendar.	32
Ptolemy	2nd	Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, geographer and astrologer responsible for the development of the geocentric model.	6, 18, 27, 30, 36
Nilakantha Somayaji	15/16th	Indian mathematician and astronomer of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. One of his most influential works was the comprehensive astronomical treatise Tantrasamgraha completed in 1501.	Preface, 2
Longomontanus	16/17th	Danish astronomer who really developed Tycho's geoheliocentric model empirically and publicly to common acceptance in the 17th century in his 1622 astronomical tables. He published the voluminous Astronomia Danica (1622), regarded as the testament of Tycho Brahe.	Preface, 5, 12
Nicolaus Copernicus	16th	Polish/Prussian mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe. The publication of Copernicus' model in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium in 1543 was a major event in the history of science, triggering the Copernican Revolution.	Preface, 5, 6, 18, 35, 36, Epilogue
Galileo Galilei	16/17th	Italian polymath, central figure in the transition from natural philosophy to modern science and transformation of the scientific Renaissance into a scientific revolution. Galileo's championing of heliocentrism and Copernicanism was controversial during his lifetime, when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system.	Preface, 12
Johannes Kepler	17th	German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer, best known for his laws of planetary motion, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican Astronomy, provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation.	Preface, 5, 6, 11, 20, 26, Epilogue
Giovanni Cassini	17th	Italian mathematician, astronomer and engineer. Discoverer of 4 moons of Saturn.	36
Giovanni Riccioli	17th	Italian astronomer and Catholic priest in the Jesuit order. He is known, for his experiments with pendulums and with falling bodies, for his discussion of 126 arguments concerning the motion of the Earth, for describing the first binary star system and for introducing the current scheme of lunar nomenclature.	1
Cristoph Scheiner	17th	German Jesuit priest, physicist and astronomer.	12
Isaac Newton	17/18th	English mathematician, astronomer, theologian, author and physicist, widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time, and a key figure in the scientific revolution. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), laid the foundations of classical mechanics.	Preface, 4, 10, 28, Epilogue
Ole Roemer	17th/18th	Danish astronomer who in 1676 made the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light, persuaded the king to introduce the Gregorian calendar in Denmark-Norway — something Tycho Brahe had argued for in vain a hundred years earlier.	26
James Bradley	18th	English astronomer and priest. Best known for two fundamental discoveries in astronomy, the aberration of light (1725–1728), and the nutation of the Earth's axis (1728–1748).	Preface, 26, 34, Epilogue
Pathani Samanta	19th	Indian astronomer and scholar who measured the distance from earth with a bamboo pipe and many other traditional instruments that he built. His observations, research and calculations were compiled into a book Siddhanta Darpana.	Preface, 2, 6
Friedrich Bessel	19th	German astronomer, mathematician, physicist and geodesist. He was the first astronomer who determined reliable values for the distance from the sun to another star by the method of parallax.	36
Simon Newcomb	19th	Canadian–American astronomer, applied mathematician and autodidactic polymath, made important contributions to timekeeping.	30, 36
Rudolf Steiner	19/20th	Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect and esotericist, founded an esoteric spiritual movement, anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and theosophy; other influences include Goethean science and Rosicrucianism.	Preface
Albert Einstein	20th	German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, awarded Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.	Preface, 3, 4, 6, 10, Epilogue
John Knight Fotheringham	20th	British historian who was an expert on ancient astronomy and chronology. He established the chronology of the Babylonian dynasties.	30
Robert Russell Newton	20th	American physicist, astronomer, and historian of science, known for his work on change of the rotation rate of the Earth, and historical observations of eclipses.	30
Vittorio Goretti	20th	Italian amateur astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets, discovered 32 main-belt asteroids.	36
Theodor Landscheidt	20th	German author, astrologer and amateur climatologist.	13
Karl-Heinz Homann	20th/21st	German electronic technician.	33
Howard Margolis	20th/21st	American social scientist. His study of social theory focused on the underpinnings of individual choice and judgment that shape aggregate social outcomes.	1
James Schombert	20th/21st	American astrophysicist (1984, Yale), Fields of research: Galaxy Surveys, Evolution and Properties of Galaxies.	1
Walter Cruttenden	20th/21st	American amateur theoretical archaeo-astronomer and author of the binary theory of precession.	1, 18, 24, 30, 33
Anthony Ayiomamitis	21st	Greek astrophotographer.	26
Christiaan Huygens	17th	Dutch physicist, mathematician, astronomer and inventor, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest scientists of all time and a major figure in the scientific revolution. Inventor of the telescope and discoverer of Titan, largest moon of Saturn.

External links

• Clues Chronicle 25 - TYCHOS