Models of the

UNIVERSE
 Eudoxus’ Model
• Eudoxus of Cnidus (born c. 395 – 390 B.C.), a Greek astronomer and
mathematician, was the first to propose a model of the universe based on
geometry.
• His model composed of 27 concentric spheres with Earth as the center. The
Sun, the Moon, the planets, and the fixed stars have spheres. Each sphere is
attached to a larger sphere through a pole.
• The rotation of the spheres on their poles once every 24 hours accounts for
the daily rotation of the heavens. It is unclear whether Eudoxus regarded
these spheres as physical entities or just mathematical constructions.
Eudoxus’ Model
 Aristotle’s Model
• Aristotle (born c. 384 B.C.), a Greek philosopher and astronomer, considered
the model proposed by Eudoxus, but he considered these spheres as physical
entities.
• He thought that these spheres were filled with the divine and eternal “ether”
that caused the spheres to move.
• He introduced the Prime Mover, as the cause of the movement of the
spheres. His model composed of 56 spheres that guided the motion of the
Sun, the Moon, and five known planets. As the spheres move, they
maintained the same distance from the Earth. Also, they moved at constant
speeds.
Aristotle’s Model
 Aristarchus' Model
• Aristarchus of Samos (born c. 310 B.C.), a Greek astronomer and
mathematician, was the first to hypothesize that the Sun is the center of the
universe.
• He visualized that the Moon orbits around a spherical Earth which then
revolves around the Sun. He believed that the stars are very far away from
the Earth as evidenced by the absence of stellar parallax – that is, the stars
do not change positions relative to each other as the Earth revolves around
the Sun.
Aristarchus' Model
 Aristarchus' Model
• Through geometrical models and mathematical computations, he concluded
that the Sun is 20 times farther from the Earth than the Moon is to the
Earth; the Earth is about three times larger than the Moon; and the Sun is 20
times larger than the Moon.
• He also reasoned out that smaller spheres orbit around larger ones. Thus, the
Moon orbits around the Earth, and the Earth orbits around the Sun.
 Ptolemy’s Model
• The Sun, Moon, stars, and planets were believed to move in a uniform
circular motion – the “perfect” motion assigned to celestial bodies by the
ancient Greeks. However, observations showed otherwise.
• The paths of the celestial bodies are not circular, and they vary in distances.
Babylonians even showed that some planets exhibit a retrograde motion – a
motion opposite to that of other planets.
 Ptolemy’s Model
• To explain “imperfect motions” of heavenly bodies, Claudius Ptolemy (born
c. 90 A.D.), a Greco-Egyptian astronomer and mathematician, proposed his
own geocentric (Earth-centered) model of the universe.
• He accounted for the apparent motions of the planets around the Earth by
assuming that each planet moved around a sphere called an epicycle. The
center of the epicycle then moved on a larger sphere called a deferent.
Ptolemy’s Model
 Ptolemaic System
1. A planet moves counter-clockwise
around the epicycle.
2. The epicycle’s center also moves
counter-clockwise around the center
of the deferent
3. The center of the epicycle moves
around the equant with a uniform
speed.
 Ptolemaic System
4. The Earth is not exactly at the
center of the deferent, or it is
eccentric (off the center). This
explains why, as observed from
the Earth, the Sun or a planet
moves slowest when it is farthest
from the Earth and moves fastest
when it is nearest the Earth.
 Ptolemaic System
5. The motion of the planet can
be described by points 1-7 in the
figure below. At point 4, the
planet moves in a retrograde
(clockwise) motion. The planet is
brightest at this point because it is
closest to the Earth.
 Copernicus' Model
• In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus, a
Renaissance mathematician and
astronomer born in Poland, ended the
geocentric astronomy era by
publishing his work On the
Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
wherein he explained that the Sun, not
the Earth, is the center of the universe.
 Copernicus' Model
• In his work, he reiterated the ancient
Greek concept that the motion of
spherical heavenly bodies is uniform,
eternal, and circular. He then reasoned
that because Earth is spherical, then its
motion is circular. He added that the
Earth has three different motions: daily
rotation on its axis, yearly motion around
the Sun, and the precession, or change in
orientation, of its axis every 26 000 years.
 Copernicus' Model
• He also proposed that the fixed stars
are immovable. Their apparent
movement is a consequence of the
Earth’s rotation. These stars are at
immeasurable distances from the
Earth, so there is no observable
parallax.
 Copernicus' Model
• By placing the Sun at the center of the
universe and the orbits of Mercury
and Venus in between the Sun and the
Earth, Copernicus’ model was able to
account for the changes in the
appearances of these planets and their
retrograde motions. The need for
epicycles in explaining motions was
eliminated.
• Parallax is the effect wherein an object’s position appears to change when
viewed by an observer from different positions. You can demonstrate this by
looking at your forefinger at arm’s length. Cover your left eye and look at
your forefinger. Then transfer the cover on your right eye and observe the
position of your forefinger.