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The circular orbits that were being used at the time to model the solar system did not quite work with mathematical predictions or observations. Kepler found that elliptical orbits provided more accurate predictions of where the heavenly bodies would appear in the sky.

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Q: How did Johannes Kepler figure out that the planets had an elliptical orbit?
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Who is 'Kepler'?

Johannes Kepler (IPA: [ˈkʰɛplɐ]) (December 27, 1571 - November 15, 1630) was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, and key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution.


Who is johanes Kepler?

Johannes Kepler (IPA: [ˈkʰɛplɐ]) (December 27, 1571 - November 15, 1630) was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, and key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution.


Did Kepler support geocentric or heliocentric?

Kepler spent his entire adult life trying to figure out what kind of arrangement would be the simplest and most accurate explanation for the motions we actually see in the sky. He tried several of them, and he eventually determined that the best fit was obtained if the planets, including the earth, all moved in elliptical orbits around the sun. That's heliocentric.


Why was Johannes Kepler important?

He published accurate data on the positions of stars and planets which immensely helped navigators. He made various contributions to mathematics, including faster methods of calculation. He also improved optics. However, his main contribution with the greatest impact was Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion. These laws provided the groundwork for many great scientific discoveries, including Sir Isaac's Newton's work on universal gravitation.


What are the three laws of Johannes Kepler all about?

Kepler's three "laws" of planetary motion constitute Kepler's explanation of the motions of the inner six planets of the solar system. He formulated them from years of sweating over the notebooks kept by another individual who spent his life watching the planets and keeping records of their motions. (Tycho Brahe). After Kepler's death, Isaac Newton developed his theory of gravity. Anybody who has enough geometry and calculus to give Gravity a good massage can show mathematically that IF gravity works the way Newton suggested it does, then the planets MUST move in the ways described by Kepler's Laws ... a nice confirmation of the work of both Newton and Kepler. These laws not only do a good job of describing how the planets move, but when we use Kepler's and Newton's formulas to figure out how to aim artificial satellites, Apollo capsules, and interplanetary probes to the outer solar system, those things always go where we want them to go ... more nice confirmation of the same theories. Oh yes. That's right. Both of them are "just theories".


Are the planetary orbits the same as the figure we have drawn?

yes it is 99.99% the same as we have estimated the orbits of the planets using newton's and Kepler's law and they cant be wrong


How did Kepler figure out that planets orbit is elliptical?

Kepler, the person who first wrote about elliptical orbits, had a Trinitarian view of the solar system in which it made perfect sense theologically to have the Sun at the centre of the universe. Copernicus also believed in a Sun-centred system.


What was Kepter's theory of the solar system?

Tycho Brahe made very accurate observations of the solar system. Brahe's assistant, Johannes Kepler, used the observations to figure out the shape of the planets orbits. When he used circular orbits, his calculations did not fit the observations. But after years of detailed calculations, he found that the orbit of each planet is called an ellipse. An ellipse is an oval shape.


Are all orbits the same shape?

The planets orbit in an ellipse. An ellipse is described as a geometric shape where the sum of the distance from the foci at any point is the same. An ellipse has three main points. Two foci and a center like a circle. While a true circle has all its external points equidistant from its center, an ellipse measures its points from the foci, which are equidistant to the center point at on both sides. The planets ellipse is closer to a circle than an all out ellipse, however, the orbit is still a true ellipse. It is also true that the shape of a planet's orbit (an ellipse) is a conic section, i.e. the intersection of a right circular cone where the intersecting plane is not perpendicular to the cone's axis, but less than being parallel to one of the cone's nappes.


What did Thyco Brahe study?

Mostly, his eyes and pen. He also used azimuth circles that circumscribed his observatory at Uraniborg to assist him in accurately plotting the movements of the stars, planets and other celestial objects. Brahe also built a sextant many times larger than any that had been built before, increasing it's accuracy notably. No previous observer had ever recorded so many detailed positions of objects in the heavens.


What are some of Nicolaus Copernicus' accomplishments?

Nicolaus Copernicus was a real astronomer who was able to figure out that the earth, as well as all the planets, revolved around the sun and that the Earth rotates on its axis once every day*.Nicolaus Copernicus was an astronomer who discovered that the Sun is the center of the universe (Heliocentric Theory) and the planets and stars revolved around it. This discovery shattered the Geocentric Theory, the thought that the Earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around it.Bcause he knew his findings would be rejected, and he might face exicution, he did not publish his book On the Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies until 1543, the year he died.*Johannes Kepler discovered this


What characteristics do all the planets share?

figure it out