Is scientific method theorized that planets moved in oval paths around the sun?

Answer 1

The planets and all other objects in the solar system move in elliptical orbits round the Sun. That's a sort of "oval", roughly. The shape of the orbits was discovered by Johannes Kepler and published in 1609.

The amount of elongation of an ellipse is measured by a parameter called the eccentricity (a circle is an ellipse with zero eccentricity).

In the case of the eight planets (except Mercury) the eccentricity is low and the shape of the orbit is very close to a circle but with the Sun displaced from the centre by an amount equal to the eccentricity multiplied the the average distance (the semimajor axis).

Mars has the highest eccentricity of all the eight planets other than Mercury. Mars's orbit has a semimajor axis of 1.524 astronomical units and eccentricity of 0.0934. The minor axis of the ellipse is 99.6% of the major axis, so the orbit looks like a circle, but the centre of the circle is 0.142 astronomical units away from the Sun, so Mars's distance varies from 1.382 to 1.666 astronomical units.

Kepler's achievement in discovering that Mars's orbit is an ellipse rather than the offset-circle used in the Ptolemy theory is highly impressive and it depended on the very accurate observations and measurements made by his employer, Tycho Brahe.

Answer 2

The planets move in almost circular paths round the Sun but Johannes Kepler discovered from measurements by Tycho Brahe that the orbits are actually ellipses with low eccentricity.

Answer 3

Jhonnes Kepler

Answer 4

Kepler.