In April 1561 a Nuremberg broadsheet by Hans Glaser described a strange celestial phenomenon over the city. The illustrated pamphlet turned public wonder into a printed news item. Whether read as omen, illusion or atmospheric event, it shows the appetite for extraordinary reports in early print culture.

Broadsheets helped create a literature of marvels that mixed oral rumour, image and moral interpretation. Such popular print fed ballads, prophetic writing and poetic responses to signs in the heavens.