Ancient Astronomy

Ptolemy, a Roman astronomer came up with the theory that the universe revolved around Earth and all the creatures inhabiting it (Doc. C). This theory, The Geocentric Universe of Ptolemy, was adjusted by most of the people during The Middle Ages. However, much later on, Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, disagreed with Ptolemy’s theory. With his use of math and reason, he came up with a new theory called The Heliocentric Universe of Copernicus (Doc. C). He said that the universe & Earth itself revolves around the sun. The Church denied this theory because they did not want to be proven wrong. If the Church was wrong about this part of the universe, this would then cause man to wonder what else they could be wrong about, or even lied to them about. This new theory taught men to think for themselves and not to rely on the Church for

Aristotle’s model by today’s standards can easily be picked apart, but at the time, it was the best explanation that could be made with so little technology and insight. Although his theories have long since been replaced, they created a base for future scientists to work off of and challenge. Over time many great scientists began to question Aristotle’s theories. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), for example, contested the absolute significance of the earth, and he did not agree that it should be viewed as the center of the entire universe (Lizhi & Youquan, 1987). He plotted the earth at the center of the universe and created a heliocentric system just as mathematically complicated as the Ptolemaic system (one that also improved on Aristotle’s), but it explained a number of anomalies, including resolving the issue of retrograde motion (Ede, A. & Cormack, L., 2004). The problem was that Aristotle’s physics of ‘natural motion’ fell apart without the earth in the center of everything.

These ideas not only, obviously, created a new conception of the forming of the universe, but also of humanities place within it. The Copernican hypothesis had enormous religious implications as it destroyed the idea that the earth was different from where God was. This eliminated the realm of perfection. Therefore humanity’s place within the Earth was lessening in importance. Also, 1572 a “new star,” which was really an exploding star, left a huge impression on many people. This is because it contradicted the idea that the heavenly spheres were unchanging, thus

Before the scientific revolution people believed that Earth was the center of the universe. That was widely believed by everyone until Nicholas Copernicus said that the sun was the center of the universe and the Earth orbited around it. Document one

Astronomy was a highly debated topic between scientists and the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church believed that the Earth was the center of the universe and there was a place for all of the gods/zodiacs in it. An astronomer from the Middle Ages, Ptolemy, created the drawing of the universe which depicted the Earth in the very center of the universe, or geocentric. The geocentric universe, also contained an outer name in latin translating directly to “The Empire of Heaven and the Home of God and the Elect( document C )”. Contrary to the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church another astronomer from The Renaissance created a sun centered universe or heliocentric. This astronomers name was Copernicus, he created his universe based on observation of the movement of the planets and mathematics. During the Middle Ages it was strongly believed that the universe was geocentric, but now astronomers like Copernicus have disproved these beliefs with concrete

Aristotle’s model of the universe was a geocentric universe. This meant that the Earth was at the centre of the universe and that all stars were on a celestial sphere. A celestial sphere is an imaginary sphere which acts as a dome around the Earth from which you can see the stars and the universe. Although Aristotle’s model was good for its time it could not explain retrograde motion of the planets.

Nicholas Copernicus was the first to question the universal truths and teachings of the church. He devised a theory that the earth along with the other planets revolved around the sun. This theory disagreed with Aristotle and the old teachings that the universe revolved around the earth, and that man was the center of the universe.

This isn’t something he realized and wasn’t confirmed till many years later. The Earth is actually a oblate spheroid which means it has a little bit of a oval shape if you were to travel in its orbit. In 1611 Johannes Kepler suggested the Kepler conjecture, named after the 17th-century mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler, is a mathematical theorem about sphere packaging in three-dimensional Euclidean space. It says that no arrangement of equally sized spheres filling space has a greater average density than that of the cubic close packing (face centered cubic) and hexagonal close packing arrangements. The density of these arrangements is around 74.5%.

In 1543 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish Canon, published “On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs”. The popular view is that Copernicus discovered that the earth revolves

Aristotle also believed that the Earth was round like some others at this time because it is relatively easy to prove. He also believed that the earth was made up of 4 elements that reacted differently with each other and the heavens were made up of a strong, light 5th

One of his biggest and most significant discoveries was the confirmation that the sun was the center of the universe. This idea of a sun-centered universe is called a heliocentric universe. This idea was first proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus. The Catholic Church believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. This is called a geocentric universe. When Galileo announced his discovery it was immediately denied by the

Undoubtedly, Aristotle’s method works perfectly on things that can be effortlessly observed. As mentioned in The Beginnings of Western Science, by repeatedly observing dogs’ characteristics and adopting induction method, we are able to deduce what a dog really is and its living habits (Lindberg, 1992). Nonetheless, concerning things that cannot be simply observed, the observation results could be untrue which result in wrong induction and deduction. Take the celestial bodies as an example. By repeated observations, Aristotle induced and deduced that celestial bodies were perfect smooth spheres with their motion being perfect circular motions (Lindberg, 1992). This is not erroneous. Conversely, by turning theoretical questions into mathematical models, it is possible to establish accurate propositions on things that cannot be easily observed. For instance, Halley applied Newton’s results and successfully predicted the reappearance of the “Halley’s comet” right on schedule (Lindberg, 1992). Therefore, Newton’s method not only helps us know the readily observable matters but also the matters that are not readily

Since the first Egyptian farmers discovered the annual reappearance of Sirius just before dawn a few days before the yearly rising of the Nile, ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean have sought to explain the movements of the heavens as a sort of calendar to help guide them conduct earthly activities. Counting phases of the moon or observing the annual variations of day length could, after many years' collection of observations, serve as vital indicators for planting and harvesting times, safe or stormy season for sailing, or time to bring the flocks from winter to summer pastures. With our millennia of such observation behind us, we sometimes forget that seeing and recording anything less obvious than

The main proof that Aristotle saw was his general surroundings. He watched that everything is in movement, and that one movement causes another movement etc. Much like billiard balls on a pool table. One ball hits another ball, that ball moves, hits a third ball, and the third ball moves. Like A causes B to move causes C to move and so on.

Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, and astrological practices of pre-history: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with public and governmental astronomy, and not completely disentangled from it until a few centuries ago in the Western World . In some cultures astronomical data was used for astrological prognostication.