Only a few of his alchemical recipes have survived, and today, there are very few remnants of his laboratory. Uraniborg was demolished after his death in 1601, and the building materials were scattered for reuse.

However, during an excavation in 1988–1990, some pottery and glass shards were found in Uraniborg's old garden. These shards were believed to originate from the basement's alchemical laboratory. Five of these shards—four glass and one ceramic—have now undergone chemical analyses to determine which elements the original glass and ceramic containers came into contact with.

The chemical analyses were conducted by Professor Emeritus and expert in archaeometry, Kaare Lund Rasmussen from the Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark. Senior researcher and museum curator Poul Grinder-Hansen from the National Museum of Denmark oversaw the insertion of the analyses into historical context.

Enriched levels of trace elements were found on four of them, while one glass shard showed no specific enrichments. The study has been published in the journal Heritage Science.

"Most intriguing are the elements found in higher concentrations than expected—indicating enrichment and providing insight into the substances used in Tycho Brahe's alchemical laboratory," said Lund Rasmussen.