Nicolaus Copernicus

19 February 1473 - 24 May 1543

By: Group 8
Nicolaus Copernicus

• Nicholaus Copernicus (Mikołaj

Kopernik) was a Polish
mathematician and astronomer who
developed a theory for the universe
that placed the Sun at the center,
rather than the Earth. The influence
of this discovery was so profound
that the new wave of astronomy that
followed has been termed the
Copernican Revolution.
Nicolaus Copernicus
Polish astronomer who proposed that the
planets have the Sun as the fixed point to
which their motions are to be referred;
that Earth is a planet which, besides
orbiting the Sun annually, also turns once
daily on its own axis; and that very slow,
long-term changes in the direction of this
axis account for the precession of the
equinoxes.
 Nicolaus Copernicus
• This representation of the heavens is usually called the heliocentric,
or “Sun-centred,” system—derived from the Greek helios, meaning
“Sun.”
Nicolaus Copernicus
• Copernicus had two main reasons for asserting that the Sun
was the center of our solar system:

• 1. While the Ptolemaic model was very good at predicting

the positions of the planets, it wasn't precise, and over the
centuries its predictions got worse and worse.

• 2. Copernicus didn't like the fact that the Ptolemaic model

had big epicycles to explain the retrograde motions of the
planets. He knew that this could be explained instead by
having the Earth also moving around the Sun.
Nicolaus Copernicus
• The true motion of the planets around the
Sun is not uniform circular motion, so
Copernicus' model still needed to have
epicycles. He had 1500 years of post-
Ptolemy data to work with, and needed
quite a lot of epicycles to make a new set of
accurate predictions for the motions of the
planets.
Copernican heliocentrism
• Copernican heliocentrism is the name given to the astronomical
model developed by Nicolaus Copernicus and published in 1543.
Copernican heliocentrism
Copernican heliocentrism
•Copernicus became to accept the
heliocentric model given by
Aristarchus due to his study of the
Ptolemaic model. His studies
showed that planetary motion in a
geocentric model was inaccurate.
Copernican heliocentrism
• Copernicus didn't like the fact that the
Ptolemaic model had big epicycles to
explain the retrograde motions of the
planets. He knew that this could be
explained instead by having the Earth also
moving around the Sun.
Retrograde Motion and Varying Brightness of the
Planets

• The Copernican system by banishing the idea that the Earth was
the center of the Solar System, immediately led to a simple
explanation of both the varying brightness of the planets and
retrograde motion:
• The planets in such a system naturally vary in brightness because
they are not always the same distance from the Earth.
• The retrograde motion could be explained in terms of geometry
and a faster motion for planets with smaller orbits, as illustrated
in the following animation.
Retrograde Motion and Varying Brightness of the
Planets
3 types of Retrograde Motion

• Retrograde motion: The most commonly discussed "retrograde"

motion is the apparent backward motion of a planet caused by its
being lapped by another planet, or vice-versa. Both planets move
in a direct (eastward) motion around the Sun, but the planet with
the inside (smaller) orbit moves faster than the planet on the
outside (larger) orbit, and when it passes the slower-moving
planet, each sees the other one as apparently moving backwards
relative to its usual motion around the sky. In this "retrograde"
motion, neither planet is actually moving backwards; it only
appears that way during the time that one laps the other.
3 types of Retrograde Motion

• Retrograde revolution: This refers to an orbital motion which is

really backwards relative to normal orbital motions. No planet has
a retrograde orbital motion, but some of the moons of the outer
planets move backwards relative to the general motion of the
other moons of those planets, and many comets have retrograde
revolution.
3 types of Retrograde Motion

• Retrograde rotation: This is a rotational motion which is

backwards relative to the orbital motion that an object has. All of
the planets move around the Sun in a direct (eastward) direction,
but three of them (Venus, Uranus and Pluto) rotate in a retrograde
(westward) direction, and are said to have a retrograde rotation.
Do not confuse revolution, or motion around an orbit, with
rotation, or turning about an axis. Even though some planets have
retrograde rotation, no planet has retrograde revolution. All the
planets go around the Sun in the same (eastward) direction.
Retrograde Motion and Varying Brightness of
the Planets

Retrograde motion of Mars in

2005. Astrophotographer Tunc
Tezel created this composite by
superimposing images taken on
35 different dates, separated
from each other by about a
week. See Tunc’s video of the
Mars and Saturn in retrograde in
2016.

https://earthsky.org/space/what-is-retrograde-motion
 Retrograde Motion and Varying Brightness of
the Planets
• Sometimes, as seen in Earth’s sky, the planets seem to
move backwards!

• Typically, the planets shift slightly eastward from night to

night, drifting slowly against the backdrop of stars. From
time to time, however, they change direction. For a few
months, they’ll head west before turning back around and
resuming their easterly course. Their westward motion is
called retrograde motion by astronomers. Though it
baffled ancient stargazers, we know now that retrograde
motion is an illusion caused by the motion of Earth and
these planets around the sun.
Retrograde Motion and Varying Brightness of the
Planets

• How does this illusion work? You can test it for

yourself, the next time you pass a car on the
highway. As you approach a slower car, it’s clearly
moving in the same direction you are. As you pull
alongside and pass it, however, from your vantage
point the car appears to move backwards for just a
moment. Then, as you pull ahead of it, the car
appears to resume its forward motion.
Nicolaus Copernicus
• Copernicus was an unlikely revolutionary. It
is believed by many that his book which is
the De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
was only published at the end of his life
because he feared ridicule and disfavor by
his peers and by the Church, which had
elevated the ideas of Aristotle to the level
of religious dogma.
Nicolaus Copernicus
• However, this reluctant revolutionary set in motion a chain
of events that would eventually (long after his lifetime)
produce the greatest revolution in thinking that Western
civilization has seen. His ideas remained rather obscure for
about 100 years after his death. But, in the 17th century the
work of Kepler, Galileo, and Newton would build on the
heliocentric Universe of Copernicus and produce the
revolution that would sweep away completely the ideas of
Aristotle and replace them with the modern view of
astronomy and natural science. This sequence is commonly
called the Copernican Revolution.
Sources:

• https://www.pas.rochester.edu/~blackman/ast104/copernican9.h
tml
• https://earthsky.org/space/what-is-retrograde-motion
• https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/2155/how-did-
copernicus-get-the-idea-of-heliocentric-model
• https://www.pas.rochester.edu/~blackman/ast104/copernican9.h
tml
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolaus-Copernicus