User:Spookykylie/Copernican heliocentrism

Copernicus' heliocentric model was revolutionary because it resolved the mathematical problems and inconsistencies found in the classic geocentric model, and it also laid the foundation for future astronomy. In the 16th century, Copernicus began working on the heliocentric model, building it upon the work of those who had similar ideas about the solar system. By 1532, he was almost finished with De Revolutionibus orbium coelestium, which stood for On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. In this book, he made several arguments in favor of his model and provided evidence to back it up. Some of the key principles he mentioned were:


 * Not all celestial bodies revolve around a single point
 * The moon orbits Earth
 * The sun is the center of the universe and all the planets orbit around the sun
 * There is no parallax of the stars
 * Stars do not move and they only appear to move because the Earth moves
 * Earth has more than one motion

Due to fear of the Church condemning him, Copernicus never published his theories until a year before he died. However, the Church responded to his theories in a mild manor and although they tried to argue against his model, in just a few generations, his theory became more widespread and accepted.

Galileo Galilei was an influential figure who backed the heliocentric model. Using a telescope, he made discoveries that supported heliocentric and also sorted out some flaws in the model. His discovery of sunspots and craters in the moon helped undermine the idea that planets were perfect orbs but his advocacy of the model led to his house arrest. Johannes Kepler was another influential figure who helped develop the heliocentric model by introducing the concept of elliptical orbs. At first, the heliocentric model included the concept of circular orbits but this did not explain why planets orbited the sun at different speeds at different times. Kepler solved this by introducing elliptical orbs. Copernicus' theories were also very significant in the field of modern physics and inspired the concepts of gravity and inertia. Sir Isaac Newton would later go on to form the basic principles of modern physics out of these concepts.

Copernicus was not the first one to come up with the heliocentric model. Rather, an ancient Greek philosopher named Aristarchus was the one to first develop the idea yet he was never credited in any of Copernicus' work. This news came about after Sir Thomas Heath, a man who intently studied Aristarchus and his work, was able to see how well thought out and accurate Aristarchus' ideas were. Copernicus did mention Aristarchus three times in his paper De Revolutionibus, but never in a way that related him to the heliocentric theory.

In De Revolutionibus, there is a section dedicated to possible philosophers who had similar ideas to those of a heliocentric view and Aristarchus is never mentioned. However, Copernicus does make quotes from the book Cicero about Nicetus and Philolaus and these philosophers were mentioned a couple of pages after Aristarchus' quotes in the book.

Copernicus believed that the Sun was a more divine object than the Earth and therefore, deserved to be located in the center of the solar system. Additionally, he did not like the concept of the equant because he believed it was a betrayal of the concept of circles. Instead he used epicycles in his model.

Although Copernicus' heliocentric model was very similar to Ptolemy's model when it came to predicting the planets, Copernicus' model was easier to use and handle. His model made four basic observations: the earth was believed to be round; the earth rotated, making the stars, sun, and planets appear as if they were moving around the earth; Mercury and Venus were closer to the sun than the Earth so they always appeared near the sun; and as Earth passed Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, the planets underwent retrograde motion.