The Orbit of Mars
Johannes Kepler’s education was very beneficial to all of his other studies, such as the complex and time consuming observation of the orbit of Mars. This big project started when the famous Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, assigned Kepler the task of studying the orbit of Mars. In 1599, Brahe left Denmark and moved to Prague, Czech Republic, under the direction of Emperor Rudolf II. Here Brahe studied a new model for the solar system. It was at this time that Brahe became Kepler's mentor. As a result of this relationship, Kepler inherited Brahe's volumes of data. Unlike Brahe, Kepler was gifted in mathematics; this was necessary to sort through and make sense of these data.