Copernican System
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Diagram of the heliocentric universe, from De
Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (1543). Image credit: Royal Astronomical
Society
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A heliocentric model of the Solar System
introduced by Nicolaus Copernicus in the first
half of the 16th century; despite causing little stir at the time, it laid
the foundation for the revolution in astronomy that was realized through
the work of Johannes Kepler and Galileo
(but which is nevertheless referred to as the Copernican
Revolution.) Although modern in its reversal of roles for the Sun and
Earth, the Copernican system owed much to the geocentric Ptolemaic
system that it opposed. It still involved epicycles
and circular orbits, and incorporated ideas from variations to the Ptolemaic
model proposed by Arab astronomers. Its importance lay not in its improved
accuracy – Kepler's elliptical orbits would be needed for that –
but in its challenge to the orthodox view that Earth was at the center of
the universe. A much earlier heliocentric scheme had been proposed by Aristarchus
of Samos in the 3rd century BC, a fact known to
Copernicus but long ignored by others prior to him.
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• HISTORY
OF ASTRONOMY
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