Tycho Tithonus is the main character in The Green Futures of Tycho, a science-fiction book for young adults by William Sleator.

Because of my great love for the book, I have used "Tycho" and "Tycho Tithonus" as my handle and default nickname since 1990.

In the book, Tycho is named after Tycho Brahe because his parents want him to grow up to be an astronomer. Tycho, however, has other plans; he's just not sure what they are yet.

In Greek mythology, Tithonus was a man who wished for immortality, but forgot to wish for eternal youth. He grew older and older until one of the gods took pity on him and turned him into a cicada.

Note: translation and other errors have led many people to believe that Tithonus was turned into a grasshopper or a cricket. Specifically, he was turned into a cicada, which is different from a grasshopper or cricket in a number of ways. Learn more about what cicadas sound like.

There are some other interesting links that are not directly Tycho-related, but have similar names.