The Tools of Copernicus

WAY BACK IN 1508, WITH ONLY LIMited tools at his disposal, Nicolaus Copernicus developed a celestial model of a heliocentric planetary system, which he described in hist landmark work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. It was a complete overhaul of our conception of the universe-one that, unfortunately, earned him the ire of the Catholic church for decades after his death-and forever changed the way we look at the stars.

- Michael Natale

And now, some intrepid amateur archaeologists may have stumbled upon one of the very humble tools that once aided Copernicus in his groundbreaking work.

According to La Brújula Verde, an amateur archaeological exploration group called the Warmińska Grupa Eksploracyjna was searching in the gardens of the Archcathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Andrew in northern Poland. Exploring the grounds of the religious site, also known as the Frombork Cathedral, the archaeologists employed ground-penetrating radar to uncover an underground chamber with three tunnels. It was here that they discovered a 500-year-old compass just like the one Copernicus is often depicted holding.