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Copernicus devised a new model of the planets' movements among the stars. To do this he made modifications to the ancient Ptolemaic system.
Copernicus considered that the ancient model was geometrically complicated and that it could be simplified very much by placing the Sun at the centre, instead of the Earth.
This was controversial because the Ptolemaic model had been around for well over 1000 years and had been incorporated into the scriptures, and it was believed the Earth is at the centre. Not only was it believed but it was also religious dogma.
In the end Kepler came up with a new model of elliptical orbits that was shown to be right many years later after the law of gravity and the laws of motion had been discovered. Kepler's theory is the one that is still in use today.
Kepler's theory retained Copernicus's idea of placing the Sun at the centre, so Copernicus was proved right in the end, although during Copernicus's lifetime he had no way of knowing it.
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What did Copernicus show about the universe?
Copernicus put forward the idea that the Sun, rather than the Earth, was at the center of the universe.
What did Kepler and Copernicus do?
They proposed the idea that the sun is the center of the universe. this started the scientific revolution.
What were the consequences to Galileo for supporting the idea of Copernicus?
Galileo suffered a trail and house arrest.
How did keplers work improve on or support Copernicus heliocentric theory?
Kepler completely replaced Copernicus's theory of the orbits of the planets, which was based on circles an epicycles, with a new theory using elliptical orbits. However Kepler retained Copernicus's idea of placing the Sun at the centre.
Why was Copernicus' work controversial?
Because people liked to believe that the Earth was at the centre of the universe and the Ptolemaic model of the universe had been seen as accurate for so long that any other idea was disapproved. It's like Darwin's theory of evolution, at the time nobody liked to believe it, it was only years later that we realised it was an extremely likely theory.
