Changing

ideas 2: The
geocentric
model
 The geocentric model
Plato and Aristotle were
Greek astronomers who
Moon Earth Venus
lived 2400 years ago. They
Sun Mars
developed the geocentric
model of the Universe.
Geo means Earth in the
Greek language. In this
model the Earth is at the
center of the Universe
 Retrograde Motion
The geocentric model explained a lot of astronomical observations, but it did not explain one important
observation. The planets seemed to wander across the sky. The did not always go in the same direction.
This motion is called retrograde motion.

Ptolemy was another Greek astronomer who lived about 1800 years ago. He changed the geocentric
model to explain the retrograde motion of the planets.

Earth planet