Emergence of Enlightenment.

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Enlightenment

When it was published, people and mostly the conservative did not believe in what he said nor anticipate. Perhaps most significant from a religious standpoint was that by characterizing the earth as just another planet in an immense universe, Copernicus destroyed the idea of Aristotle. Where then was heaven?

Especially protestant leaders attacked his ideas. Before it was published, Luther heard of his theories and spoke about him as the "new astrologer who wants to prove that the earth moves and goes round... The fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside down". The catholic reaction was milder at first but declared the theory false in 1616. When a new star appeared in 1572 the people started to doubt that the heavenly spheres really existed, because it was not possible for them to change, since they were unchangeable and perfect. In 1577 a comet went through the sky and people then started to doubt even more.

From Brahe to Galileo

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) agreed with this though. He was according to himself the leading astronomer of Europe after having collected detailed information of the star in 1572. He studied stars with the naked