A Brief History of Ideas About

the Solar System

 The Greek Mind….
• Much of the Greek method of thinking revolved
around philosophy instead of scientific
reasoning

• Greeks valued perfection and therefore any

models of the universe should involve the
perfect shape, the circle
Ptolemy ~140 AD
• Greeks also had no reason to believe that the
Earth was not the center of the universe.
Completely reasonable at the time – and still
reasonable today!

• The only 'scientific' data they had available to

them was the motion of the Sun, Moon, and
planets, which were monitored heavily at the
time
Aristotle’s theory of matter
4 elements of (terrestrial) matter
 Aristotle’s theory of matter

Fundamental qualities of terrestrial matter

Hot Cold Dry Wet

The doctrine of natural place

Fundamental difference between earth and heavens

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=7783
An Earth Centred Cosmos
 The Motion of the Planets
…A Problem Emerges
• A model of the universe
would be very simple except
for the fact that the planets Retrograde Motion
undergo a “looping” motion in
their movements as seen
from Earth

• Remember, in one night, all

planets still rise in the east
and set in the west

• However, if you keep track of

the planet's position versus
the background stars night to
night, you will see the planet
'move'
Jupiter and Saturn (June 2000 – May 2001)
• The word 'planetos' means
wanderer in Greek
 Ptolemaic Model
• In order to produce the
retrograde motion of the planets,
Ptolemy created a model with
little circles called epicycles

• All the planets orbited the Earth

in a perfect circle

• The planet itself made a smaller

orbit centered upon the larger
orbit around the Earth

• With the right timing, this model

can reproduce the retrograde
motion seen from Earth
The “Geocentric” Model
Geocentric model
and the
“backwards”
motion of Mars
 Ptolemaic Model
• In Ptolemy's complete model,
each planet had its own orbit
around the Earth with its own
epicycle
– By changing the period of the
orbit and the epicycle, the model
could match observations
relatively well

• The Sun and the Moon

traveled around the Earth in
perfect circles

• The entire model was

‘Simplified’ Ptolemaic Model
composed of more than 80
circles and was very
complicated
The Geocentric Model
• The early philosopher and
astronomer believed that
everything in the universe
is “perfect”; and that the
planets are perfect spheres
circling in perfect circular
orbits.

• They believed the Earth

was the most important
object in space and
therefore assumed it to be
the center of the universe.
 Ptolemy’s Model Survives

• Since Ptolemy’s model matched

observations sufficiently and no contrary
evidence was produced, it was supported
for nearly 1,500 years!

• After all, if the Earth was moving, shouldn't

we feel it?
 “Flat Earth” Models ?

There was never a time in history when the concept

of a flat (disc-shaped) Earth was widely held, either
by priests, prophets, poets, philosophers, scientists,
or the common people…..it would be a myth to
assume this…..and we cannot perpetuate this myth
with our students. The idea has come almost
exclusively from literature.
The Heliocentric Model (Sun-Centered)
The Heliocentric Model
• The model which placed the sun at the center is
called the heliocentric or sun-centered model.

• The Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus

adopted Ptolemy’s idea that planets’ orbits are
perfect circles.
• Copernicus’s model is known as the most
influential of modern astronomy.
 The Copernican Revolution
• At the end of the Dark Ages, a
Polish Catholic priest named
Nicolaus Copernicus came up with
a new model of the universe where
the Earth was no longer at the
center

• The heliocentric (Sun centered)

model placed the Earth out of its
central position, yet still maintained
many of the observations we see

• The perceived elegance in his

model was that it was simpler than
Ptolemy’s model, and explained all
the stuff going on very well
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)
 Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)

• the Sun sitting as on

a Royal throne, leads
the surrounding family
of stars.
Motion of Mars as
explained by the
HELIOCENTRIC
model….
 The Copernican Model – Retrograde Motion

In the Copernican model, retrograde motion is an

apparent effect caused by the Earth 'overtaking' an
outer planet in its orbit
 Tycho Brahe made accurate
measurements of planetary motion.

Tycho Brahe (1546-

1601): Danish
astronomer
 Tycho’s contributions to astronomy

Tycho discovered
‘new star’, or
‘nova’, upsetting
ancient notion of
perfect,
unchanging
heavens.

Made very accurate measurements

of planetary positions.
 Johannes Kepler (1571-1630):
German

Was Tycho’s
assistant.
Used Tycho’s data to
discover
Three Laws of
Planetary
Motion.
 Kepler’s First Law of planetary
motion
The orbits of planets around the Sun are
ellipses with the Sun at one focus.
Ellipse = an oval built around two points,
called focuses (or foci).

SIZE of ellipse:

Major axis =
longest diameter
of ellipse.

Semimajor axis =
half the major
axis.
 (3) Kepler’s
Second Law of planetary motion

A line from
the Sun to a planet
sweeps out equal areas in equal time intervals.
 Consequences of Kepler’s Second
Law:

Planets move fastest when closest to the

Sun.

Example: Mars
Perihelion: 206,600,000 km (1.381 A.U.)
Max. Orbital Speed: 26.5 km/s
Aphelion: 249,200,000 km (1.666 A.U.)
Min. Orbital Speed: 22.0 km/s
 Kepler’s Third Law of planetary
motion
The square of a planet’s orbital
period is proportional to the cube
of its average distance from the
Sun*:
2 3
P  a
*A planet’s average distance from the Sun is equal to
the semimajor axis of its orbit.
 Galileo - The Observer
• A century after Copernicus’ work,
other “natural philosophers” began
to make strides toward making the
heliocentric model popular among
ordinary people

• Galileo was the first to use a

telescope to make detailed
observations of the sky

• Though he did not invent the

telescope, he made many working
prototypes and trained them on a
variety of celestial bodies

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

 Galileo's Observations - I
• Galileo used his telescopes to make
observations of many heavenly
objects

• The sketch to the right shows Galileo's

observations of the four largest moons
of Jupiter

• He noticed that the position of these

four moons changed night to night, as
if they were revolving around Jupiter

• These moons now bear his name

– The “Galilean” moons of Jupiter are:
• Io
• Europa
• Ganymede
• Callisto
 Galileo's Observations - II
• Galileo also noticed that
Venus was not simply a
point of light, but actually a
disk

• He watched Venus go
through complete phases,
just like the Moon

• This cycle of phases can

only be satisfied by the
heliocentric model, not the
geocentric one –
The phases of Venus
 Galileo's Observations - III
• Galileo also pointed his
telescope toward the Sun
– NEVER DO THIS

• He discovered that the disk of

the Sun was not perfect and
was occasionally dotted with
small black spots

• By making daily sketches of

these spots, he was able to
determine that the Sun itself
was rotating
 Galileo's Influences….
• All of Galileo's observations were pointing towards a
HELIOCENTRIC view of the universe

• Galileo published his observations and conclusions in multiple

works, including some published in Italian to appeal to a wider
audience

• Galileo’s popularization of new ideas about the cosmos

threatened the status quo, and he was forced to stop publicly
teaching in favour of the heliocentric model, and sentenced to
house arrest for the rest of his life; he communicated with his
daughter regularly through letters

• The seeds of the Copernican Revolution, however, had been

planted and by the mid-17th century, virtually all philosophers
and astronomers were committed to the Copernican model
 Cycles of the Sky

Copyright (c) The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
The Celestial Sphere
• Vast distances to stars
prevent us from
sensing their true 3-D
arrangement
• Naked eye
observations treat all
stars at the same
distance, on a giant
celestial sphere with
the Earth at its center
 Models and Science
• The celestial sphere
is a model, which
does not
necessarily match
physical reality
• Models provide a
means to enhance
our understanding
of nature
 Constellations

• Constellations are fixed arrangements of stars that

resemble animals, objects, and mythological figures
• Stars in a constellation are not physically related
 Constellations

• Positions of stars change very • Origin of the ancient

slowly; constellations will constellations is unknown
look the same for thousands although they probably served
of years as mnemonic tools for tracking
seasons and navigation
 Diurnal vs. Annular Motion

• Diurnal Motion • Annual Motion

– “Daily Motion” – “Yearly Motion”
– Sun, Moon, planets, – Due to the Earth’s
and stars rise in the revolution
east and set in the west
– Due to the Earth’s
rotation
 Diurnal Motion
• Daily motion can be
explained by the rotation
of the celestial sphere
about the north and
south celestial poles
located directly above
the Earth’s north and
south poles
• The celestial equator,
which lies directly above
the Earth’s equator,
provides another
astronomical reference
marker
 Annual Motion

• For a given time (say 10:00 PM), as the months proceed,

constellations do not appear in the same part of the sky
 Annual Motion
• A given star rises 3
minutes 56 seconds
earlier each night
• This annual motion is
caused by the Earth’s
motion around the Sun,
the result of projection
• The ancients used the
periodic annual motion
to mark the seasons
The Ecliptic
• The path of the Sun
through the stars on
the celestial sphere is
called the ecliptic
• The ecliptic is a
projection of the
Earth’s orbit onto the
celestial sphere and is
tipped relative to the
celestial equator
THE END!