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The most important discovery Galileo made to support the heliocentric model was his telescopic observation of the phases of Venus. From Earth, Venus appears in phases like those of the moon's - new, waxing crescent, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, and waning crescent. In the Ptolemaic model Venus is never on the far side of the sun from Earth, and so it would never display the gibbous or full phases. On his first observation to check for Venusian phases he saw a gibbous Venus at once invalidating the Ptolemaic model. Over several months he continued his observations and saw Venus changing phase to half, and waning crescent confirming that Venus orbited the sun.

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8y ago
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9y ago

Galileo observed the orbital pattern of Venus and its phases, which reinforced the heliocentric model. He was the first to do so because he invented a telescope that allowed him to view the planets.

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9y ago

Galileo made discoveries with a telescope that raised doubts about the ancient geocentric model of the planets devised by Ptolemy.

Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter, the first objects to be discovered that obviously did not orbit the Earth. Secondly he discovered the full range of Venus's phases, including a gibbous phase (more than half) which showed that the Ptolemaic model cannot be totally right.

Galileo assumed that this failure of the Ptolemaic system demonstrated that the heliocentric system of Copernicus must be correct. However Tycho produced a third model that was geocentric, and it allowed the full range of Venus's phases. So Galileo's discoveries were not conclusive.

The models by Ptolemy, Copernicus and Tycho used combinations of circles and epicycles to describe the planets' positions.

The final model devised by Kepler had the Sun at the centre but it abandoned circle and epicycles and instead had the planets in elliptical orbits. This model was validated by Newton's later theoretical discoveries and also by more and more accurate measurements of the planets' positions in later centuries.

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10y ago

He made no discoveries that directly support the heliocentric theory, but his discovery of the moons of Jupiter, circling Jupiter and not the Earth, opened the way to questions about what else might not be orbiting the Earth, like the Sun, for example. Some one hundred years after Galileo's time it was found that the Sun is in fact at the centre, but in Galileo's time science did not possess the knowledge to settle that question.

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9y ago

None, but Galileo's discoveries demonstrated faults with the old Ptolemaic system. These faults were removed in Tycho Brahe's model, which was also geocentric. However the heliocentric theory of Kepler, using elliptical orbits for the planets, was eventually accepted by everyone, but that happened many years after Galileo's lifetime.

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Q: What two discoveries did Galileo make that support a Heliocentric system?
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Related questions

Who was the first to use the telescope to observe Jupiters moon to support the heliocentric model of the solar system?

Galileo


How did galileo's observation support the heliocentric system?

Venus goes through phases similar to those of Earth's moon.#1Direction


How did Galileo observations support the idea of the heliocentric system?

Galileo's observations with his telescope supported the concept of heliocentricism. He noted that the satellites of Jupiter and Venus, based on their range of phases, did not match geocentricism supported by Ptolemy. He noted that based on these findings, that the Heliocentric theory was correct.


When did Galileo used a telescope for the heliocentric system?

200 billion years ago


Did Galileo proposed the heliocentric model of the solar system?

No, Nicolaus Copernicus proposed it 21 years before Galileo was born.


Who created the current model of the solar system?

Copernicus proposed it, Galileo fought for it. It is called the Heliocentric model.


What did Galileo discover that gave support to the heliocentric theory?

The Jovian moons. Galileo had little evidence for the heliocentric theory, which was later (in the 18th century) generally accepted as correct after the laws of motion and the law of gravity showed that the Sun is by far the most massive object in the solar system and therefore must be at the centre. Galileo did not have the other major piece of evidence supporting the heliocentric theory, which is the parallax shown by relatively close stars as the Earth moves round its orbit. Parallax is extremely small and was impossible to observe in Galileo's time, and this was used to support the idea that the Earth is at the centre. Bessel made the first measurements of parallax in the 19th century.


How did Galileo's work into conflict with the church?

Galileo's work came into conflict with the church because he advocated a heliocentric model of out solar system. This conflicted with what it says in The Bible.


What were the two observations that Galileo made through the telescope that supported the heliocentric model?

Galileo discovered two important things: the moons of Jupiter and the phases of venus. Both discoveries raised doubts about the old Ptolemaic system which was geocentric, and the phases of Venus showed that it was definitely wrong. But neither discovery proved that Copernicus's theory - supported by Galileo - was right. This is because Tycho's geocentric system explained the phases of Venus satisfactorily.


Which famous astronomer observed Venus and Jupiter and supported Copernicus' theory of a heliocentric solar system?

Galileo Galilee


How did Galileo answer the argument of the heliocentric theory of the solar system was against the teaching of the church?

He apologized and said he was wrong apex


How did Galileo answer the argument that the heliocentric theory of solar system was against the teaching of the church?

He apologized and said he was wrong apex