Figure D26 TYCHO’S STAR

Ascending now, the Northern heavens view:

In Cassiopeia, a star burns bright,

Unknown to living memory. A new

Addition to the stellar sphere, that might

Admit no change: Elizabethan night

Disfigured by a NOVA. What foretold

The Queen’s astrologer? A fearful sight,

Surpassing any alchemist of old,

The carbon of a star transmuted into gold.