The southern flank is formed by the massif of the Reichensteiner Gebirge, which culminates in the Hochthor (77 80 ft.) and belongs to the north Styrian Alps, also called Eisenerzer Alps.
Other groups of the north Styrian Alps are the Hochschwab, with the highest peak the Hochschwab (7482 ft.) and the Hochveitsch with the Hohe Veitsch (6501 ft.).
The Styrian Nieder Alps cover the country north and east of the Mur, and contain the Fischbacher Alps with the Hochlantsch (5646 ft.), the Wechsel group (57 00 ft.), and the small Semmering group with the Stuhleck or Spitaler Alpe (5847 ft.), and the Sonnenwendstein (4994 ft.).
This part is occupied by the eastern outliers of the Alps, known as the Styrian hill country, and by the Windisch Biiheln, which is one of the most renowned vine districts in the whole of Austria.
Soon after his arrival at Gratz, Kepler contracted an engagement with Barbara von Miihleck, a wealthy Styrian heiress, who, at the age of twenty-three, had already survived one husband and been divorced from another.