EARLY ASTRONOMY AND MODELS OF THE UNIVERSE

PREPARED BY: MARTIN GUILLERMO FERNANDEZ

PROGRESS WITHIN A HUNDRED YEARS
IT IS DIFFICULT TO CORRECT MISCONCEPTIONS
ONCE INGRAINED IN PEOPLES’ CULTURE.
REINFORCEMENT OF IDEAS
PRE-SOCRATIC
GREEKS

Earliest Western
astronomers
THALES OF MILESIA

◼ The Earth is a disc floating on

water
◼ The OG flat-earther
ICEBREAKER # 1

◼ Thales is part Greek and part Phoenician, the Greeks named the land
“Phoenicia” because of a certain animal which produces a vibrant purple
dye. What animal was it?

Oysters Snails

Turtles Bats
SNAILS
A sea snail Hexaplex trunculus was responsible for the majority of the trade in Phoenicia.
ANAXIMANDER OF MILETUS

◼ The Earth is a cylinder

GEOCENTRIC MODEL
OF THE UNIVERSE

Pythagoras
Plato
Aristotle
Eudoxus
Ptolemy
PYTHAGORAS

◼ First to claim that the Earth is round

◼ The heavenly bodies move around

the Earth

◼ Music of the Spheres:

Planetary motion is related to
numbers and musical notes
PLATO

◼ Adapted the Pythagorean Model of

the Universe

◼ Claimed the motion of the universe

is circular, perfect and ethereal

◼ Established west-to-east motion

of the planets

◼ “Saving the appearances”

EUDOXUS – HOMOCENTRIC MODEL

◼ Student of Plato, first to respond

to “Saving the Appearances”

◼ 27 concentric Spheres
◼ 4 for the known five planets
◼ 3 each for the sun and moon
◼ 1 for the distant stars
ICEBREAKER # 2

◼ What were the 7 known “planets”, during the time of Plato?

ANIMATED EUDOXUS’ MODEL
ARISTOTLE

◼ First to give practical proof that

the Earth is a sphere

◼ Adapted Eudoxus’ 27 spheres

into 56 Spheres

◼ At the edge of the sphere rests

the Prime Mover.
PTOLEMY

◼ Deferent – rings around the Earth,

the general path

◼ Epicycle – a ring that follows around

the deferent, path followed by the
planet.

◼ The Earth is off-center, balanced off

at the point called the equant.
ICEBREAKER # 3

◼ How did Ptolemy assume that the Earth had an equant? In essence, why
the Earth wasn’t completely centered?
HELIOCENTRIC
MODELS

Aristarchus
Copernicus
Kepler
Brahe
ARISTARCHUS

◼ First to place the sun at the center

of the universe

◼ The sun and the stars are fixed

◼ The Earth revolves around the sun

in a circular orbit

◼ Didn’t catch on because of

Ptolemy’s popularity
COPERNICUS, NICOLAS

◼ Celestial motions are uniform,

infinite and circular

◼ Planets revolved around the sun

◼ Earth’s motion explains the

retrograde motion of the other
planets

◼ Earth spins on a tilted axis, which

accounts for the seasons
KEPLER, JOHANNES (ELLIPTICAL)

◼ Planetary orbits were based on a

geometric shape called an
ellipse.

◼ The planets were closer to the

sun, the orbited faster.

◼ His model predicted the motions

of the universe fairly accurately.
THE KEPLERIAN MODEL
BRAHE, TYCHO – THE WILD CARD (GEOHELIOCENTRISM)
• Modeled the universe as both helio,
and geo centric, with

• The Planets revolves around the

sun,
• And the Sun revolves around the
earth.

• Witnessed two supernovae,

opposing Ptolemy’s idea that the
stars were unchanging.
RECAP OF THE GEOCENTRIC VS THE HELIOCENTRIC POSITION

GEOCENTRISTS HELIOCENTRISTS

1. Pythagoras 1. Aristarchus
2. Plato 2. Copernicus
3. Eudoxus 3. Kepler
4. Aristotle 4. Brahe (?)
5. Ptolemy
GALILEO GALILEI

Discoveries
SUN SPOTS GALILEAN MOONS
LUNAR FEATURES PHASES OF VENUS
STELLAR PARALLAX
KEPLER’S LAW OF
MOTION

The accepted facts of the

present day
KEPLER’S 1ST LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION - ELLIPSES

PERIHELIO
APHELION
N

MINOR AXIS
Earth’s Earth’s
closest point farthest
from the Sun point from
the Sun

MAJOR AXIS
KEPLER’S 2ND LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION – EQUAL AREAS

• Planets travels equal areas of

space in equal periods of time.

• Planets travel faster during

perihelion, travel slower during
aphelion
KEPLER’S 3RD LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION – HARMONIES

• The larger the planet’s orbit, the

longer the revolution.

• The square of the revolutions of

the planet are directly
proportional to the cubes of their
average distances.