Astronomy before Galileo’s telescope: first, you wait for a clear night, and second, you look really hard.

Third, you keep looking for the rest of your life.

One night a new star appears in Cassiopeia, and an archangel appears on a hilltop. “Hark!” he yells at a startled man. “A king is born in who the hell are you?”

“I’m Tycho,” says the man, “and I don’t think that’s the right star.”

“Seriously? What year is it?”

Tycho tells him.

“Oh Christ,” says Gabriel, and leaps backward in time.

Tycho rubs his golden nose, blinking for the first time all week.