Ptolemy vs. Copernicus essays

Ptolemy vs. Copernicus essays Throughout the history of astronomical theory, there have been two main theories on the setup and placement of the heavenly bodies within our observed universe. The two theories are the geocentric model, our earliest theory, wherein the earth is at the center of everything, and everything rotates around it, and the heliocentric model, introduced much later on, wherein the sun is at the center, and nothing except the moon rotates around the earth. Both these theories have been disputed and argued over until more contemporary astronomers put the argument to rest by basically proving the heliocentric idea to be much more realistic through observations of other objects, their motions in relation to earth, and mathematical calculations about these motions. The astronomer who first questioned the astronomical model that was laid forth by Aristotle in his book On the Heavens, and Physics around 350 BCE, was the Greek astronomer, Claudius Ptolemy, who introduced his idea mid- 2nd century CE. He lived and made most of his observations in Egypt, namely Alexandria, and recorded them in a single, impressive compilation called Almagest, which would contain the foundation for popularly accepted astronomical theory for the next 1000 years, going undisputed until the time of Copernicus, when the notion of a heliocentric universe began to become more accepted. In Ptolemy's model, Earth is placed at the center of the universe, though in some models it was very slightly off-centered. Next is the moon, rotating around Earth, followed by the orbit of Mercury, then Venus. The Sun was thought to be the fourth object out into space that was rotating around earth, followed by Mars, then Jupiter, and then Saturn. Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto were all not possible to observe without much more sophisticated equipment than was available at the time. The revolutionary aspect of Ptolemy's work was not inventing the theory of an earth-centered universe, because th...