Eudoxus
It was not an immediate improvement and actually it used more epicycles than the Ptolemaic mode so was more complicated. But the idea that the Sun is at the centre was taken up by Kepler in his studies of planets' orbits that led to the laws of planetary motion and eventually to the dynamic model of the solar system devised by Newton and others, which is the generally accepted model at the present time.
Earths faster motion makes Mars appear to be going backwards, the backwards motion, in fact, is what caused retrograde motion. --Ptloemy used Epicycles to explain how geocentrical models worked.
The astronomical system of Ptolemy, in which the earth is at the center of the universe with the sun, moon, planets, and stars revolving about it in circular orbits.Ptolemaic system Ptolemy believed that Earth was at the center of the universe and that the Sun and planets orbited Earth (with the planets also moving in smaller circles called epicycles). In this system, the centers of Mercury's and Venus's epicycles always lie on the line shown in the diagram between the Earth and the Sun.
copernicus
Yes it was, because the Greeks believed that the planets must follow the perfect shape, the circle. We now know the planets travel in ellipses, but in those days Ptolemy allowed for that by introducing the idea of epicycles. An epicycle is a small circle whose centre travels round a bigger circle, and the planet travels round the epicycle. A circle and an epicycle is a very accurate model of an ellipse provided the eccentricity factor is small, as it is for most of the planets, which is why it took over 1400 years for this concept to be questioned. A further complication was that the Greeks believed the Earth was at the centre. We now know that the Sun is at the centre, but Ptolemy's model had to allow for the observed effects by introducing extra epicycles. For the inner planets these 'spurious' eipcycles were very large. In the end the Ptolemaic model was very complicated, with 40-50 epicycles altogether.
All the known planets
Epicycles helped account for the apparent motion of the other planets in the geocentric model.
The Earth was the center of the universe and the "heavenly bodies", such as the moon, sun, planets and stars, rotated in their own spheres around the Earth in a pattern. The order of spheres from Earth outward are:MoonMercuryVenusMarsJupiterSaturnFixed starsSphere of Prime Mover
It was not an immediate improvement and actually it used more epicycles than the Ptolemaic mode so was more complicated. But the idea that the Sun is at the centre was taken up by Kepler in his studies of planets' orbits that led to the laws of planetary motion and eventually to the dynamic model of the solar system devised by Newton and others, which is the generally accepted model at the present time.
Copernicus produced a new theory published in 1543 that had the Sun at the centre but in other respects it was similar to the Ptolemaic theory with its circles and epicycles. He thought his model was simpler because many of the epicycles were smaller, even though there were just as many as in the Ptolemaic theory. We now know that this is because the Ptolemaic theory with the Earth at the centre required larger epicycles to 'take out' the Earth's motion round the Sun. In other words in the Ptolemaic model the Sun's orbit was the 'reverse' of the Earth's orbit. To that extent the Copernican theory was simpler. Kepler's theory of 1609 did away with all the old circles and replaced them all with elliptical orbits for the planets, each one in its own plane, close to the ecliptic. He retained the idea that the Sun is at the centre, and devised the Three Laws of planetary motion. After a full dynamical theory was produced by Newton that explained the elliptical orbits and Kepler's Laws, more and more people accepted that it was right, and that is the situation today, with tiny corrections due to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.
Earths faster motion makes Mars appear to be going backwards, the backwards motion, in fact, is what caused retrograde motion. --Ptloemy used Epicycles to explain how geocentrical models worked.
People at the dark ages, were taught that the earth was the middle and the sun circled around it. Copernican heliocentrism is the name given to the astronomical model developed by Nicolaus Copernicus and published in 1543. It positioned the Sun near the center of the Universe, motionless, with Earth and the other planets rotating around it in circular paths modified by epicycles and at uniform speeds.
ptolemy
copernicus
The astronomical system of Ptolemy, in which the earth is at the center of the universe with the sun, moon, planets, and stars revolving about it in circular orbits.Ptolemaic system Ptolemy believed that Earth was at the center of the universe and that the Sun and planets orbited Earth (with the planets also moving in smaller circles called epicycles). In this system, the centers of Mercury's and Venus's epicycles always lie on the line shown in the diagram between the Earth and the Sun.
geocentric model & epicycles
Ptolemy.