How did Copernicus change peoples' view of the solar system?

Answer 1

Copernicus published a new theory of the planets in 1543 which had the Sun at the centre. Other than that the theory was similar to the old Ptolemaic theory in that it used circles and epicycles to model the paths taken by the planets.

66 years later, Kepler's theory was published. It had the Sun at the center, like the Copernican theory, but in all other respects it was novel because it used the new idea of elliptical orbits for the planets. Eventually Kepler's model became generally accepted and the older models were discarded.

But Copernicus was the first to publish a serious alternative theory to the one by Ptolemy from 1400 years earlier. In that sense he initiated the Renaissance as far as the study of Astronomy was concerned.

Copernicus was the first astronomer to reconsider the theory that explains how the planets move among the fixed stars. The Ptolemaic theory with the Earth at the centre had been around long enough (1400 years) for it to be incorporated in the scriptures and therefore difficult to change.

Copernicus's alternative model published in 1543 had the Sun at the centre and all the planets including the Earth travelling round in orbits that were made up from circles.

Copernicus's model has the planets, particularly Venus and Mars, moving in paths that are geometrically simpler. Other than that, there was no way of knowing which model was a better representation of reality.

Galielo took up Copernicus's model and promoted it aggressively to the extent of starting a major dispute with the Catholic authorities.

However both theories were eventually discarded in favour of Johannes Kepler's theory of 1609 when later discoveries in gravity and dynamics showed that the planets follow Kepler's three laws of planetary motion under the force of the Sun's gravity.

The idea of having the Sun in the center is now generally accepted as right, and Copernicus gets the credit for starting the train of thought that arrived at the correct solution even though the details of his theory were not accepted.