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Copernicus (1473-1543)Ptolemaic System
  • Planets appear to reverse motions at times.
  • Ptolemy explained motions in terms of orbits (epicycles) carried on a larger orbit (deferent).
  • Epicycle deferent ratios were very close to modern values of planet/earth orbit ratios. System worked very well.
  • Contrary to popular myths, Ptolemy's system was not overly cumbersome, and it accounted for subtleties like the uneven motion of the Sun
  • It is not Ptolemy's fault he did such a good job that it took 1500 years to improve on him!
Emerging Problems
  • System began to seem cumbersome and inelegant.
  • System inaccurate. Alfonsine tables out of date by 1500.
Possible clues to Copernican idea
  • Epicycle motions for Venus and Mercury opposite other planets.
  • Epicycle for Sun's motion appeared in schemes for all other planets.
  • References to now-lost ideas of Aristarchus of Samos
Heliocentric Idea
  • Copernicus replaced epicycles with orbital motion of Earth.
  • Less accurate than Ptolemaic system but conceptually simpler.
  • Published as De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (on the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) 1542.
  • Little immediate hostility. Earlier speculations on moving earth had been decreed heretical, hence moving earth idea could be lightly dismissed.
  • One of most vigorous critics was Martin Luther.
Kepler (1572-1630), Brahe (1546-1601)Kepler was a medieval mystic.
  • One of the last of the "scientific astrologers."
  • Attempted to explain spacing of planet orbits by reference to Platonic solids.
  • Kepler was reluctant to abandon perfectly circular motion (but despite his mystic tendencies, he did when the evidence required it).
  • Kepler found many numerological relationships among the planets, of which "Kepler's Laws" are the three that have proven to have a physical basis.
  • Kepler's concept of the Sun as center of solar system may have had a mystical basis.
Need for observational data.
  • Copernican theory based on same observational data as Ptolemaic, hence no more accurate.
  • Kepler turned to Brahe, who had the most advanced observational data.
Kepler's Laws
  • Orbits are elliptical, Sun at one focus, nothing at other.
  • Radius vector sweeps out equal areas in equal times.
  • Square of period proportional to cube of distance.
Kepler and Galileo
  • Galileo and Kepler corresponded.
  • Galileo defended Copernican astronomy but never wrote about Kepler's model.
  • Galileo may have been repelled by Kepler's mysticism.
  • Moral: even the best and most innovative workers can sometimes fail to recognize a major advance.
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11y ago
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4mo ago

The main difference between Copernicus' and Kepler's models of the universe was the shape of the orbits. Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model with circular orbits, while Kepler later proposed an elliptical orbit model. Kepler's model was able to better explain the observed motions of the planets.

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Q: What was the main difference between Copernicus' model and Kepler's model?
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What is the main difference between keplers system and the Copernicus system?

Copernicus's system used circles and epicycles, just like the ancient Ptolemaic system, with the difference that by placing the Sun at the centre Copernicus could simplify the complicated paths taken by the planets through space. Kepler had the advantage of new accurate observations made by Tycho Brahe at the end of the 16th century, and these enabled Kepler to realise that by using elliptical orbits for the planets, the modelled positions could be fitted more closely with the measured positions. Kepler retained the idea of having the Sun at the centre and it is the model used today with slight modifications from Einstein's theory of relativity.


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