The Copernican View

HEAVEN

HELL
www.visionlab.uncc.edu/external/courses/ ECGR3090_Spacecraft/HW0/Nicolaus%20Copernicus.pdf

Apparent Retrograde
Motion

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/retrograde/retrograde.html

Epicycles and Retrograde

Motion

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/retrograde/aristotle.html

Nicolai Copernicus
(1473-1543)

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/retrograde/copernican.html

http://www.polishamericancenter.org/Pictures/Copernicus.jpg

Copernicus
Orphaned at age of 10

Studied medicine and law at Bologna and Padua and
was heading to become a bishop

Met famous astronomer Domenico Maria Novara da

Ferrara while studying law

In 1514 he made his Commentariolus(Little

Commentary)

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium(On the

Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres)first book
published received on deathbed

Copernicus & the Church

Urged to publish his theory by Cardinal Nicholas
von Schonberg in 1536

Dedicated his book to Pope Paul III

Introduction states that the purpose is aid in

computation -- not necessarily represent reality

(actually written A. Osiander -- Lutheran
theologian)

Copernican theory banned by Church in 1616

7 Postulates of
Commentariolus
is no one center in the universe.

There
Earth's center is not the center of the universe.

The
center of the universe is near the sun.

The
distance from the Earth to the sun is
The
imperceptible compared with the distance to the

stars.

The rotation of the Earth accounts for the apparent
daily rotation of the stars.

The apparent annual cycle of movements of the sun
is caused by the Earth revolving round it.

The apparent retrograde motion of the planets is
caused by the motion of the Earth from which one
observes.

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)

very accurate
Made
observations

that supernovae
Showed
happened at stellar

distances

Showed comets could be
further away then the
Moon

Both of above showed
immutable was wrong

Still thought Earth was
center

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/PictDisplay/Brahe.html

Johannes Kepler
(1571-1630)
Used Brahes data to
correct Copernican
model

Orbits are ellipses

Keplers Laws
1. The orbits of the planets are ellipses, with the
Sun at one focus of the ellipse

2. The line joining the planet to the sun sweeps out
equal areas in equal times as the planet travels
around the ellipse

3. The ratio of the squares of the revolutionary
periods equals to the cubes of the semi-major
axes

Kepler's Physics as Music