Kepler
Ellipses.
Because that's the way gravity works. If you take Newton's formula for the forceof gravity, and you have enough geometry and calculus, you can massage theformula around and derive Kepler's three laws of planetary motion. His first lawsays that planets move in ellipses with the sun at one focus. Kepler got that fromTycho's notebooks, where he wrote down the results of years and years of watchingand measuring the positions of the planets. Kepler showed that the ellipse was thebest fit to what Tycho actually saw happening in the sky. Then 100 years later, Newtoncame along and showed, with one simple formula to describe gravity, why orbits mustbe ellipses.
Johannes Kepler, working with the detailed observational data compiled by Tycho Brahe, showed that the ratio of (orbital period)2 to (mean distance from the sun)3 is a constant for the earth and the five other visible planets. A generation after Kepler, Sir Isaac Newton showed that his law of universal gravitation could predict the shape and periods of the planetary orbits.
The idea that the Sun is at the centre of the planetary system is called the heliocentric concept. Nicholas Copernicus came up with a complete heliocentric theory of circles and epicycles published in 1543 that modelled the positions of the known planets quite accurately and at least as accurately as the previous geocentric model of Ptolemy. Later, measurements made by Tycho Brahe with unprecedented accuracy showed up some discrepancies in the previous models. Kepler used the results to form the modern model of the planetary orbits. It used the heliocentric idea, but the rest of Copernicus's theory was abandoned as Kepler introduced the new idea of elliptical orbits, with each orbit lying in its own plane, slightly inclined to the ecliptic by a different amount for each planet. So, the idea that the Earth revolves round the Sun is called the heliocentric theory but it is hardly a theory at all, it is better described as an idea or a concept. The next stage, carried out by Newton and others, described how the force of gravity held the planets in their orbits and it was able to determine the mass of each planet and the Sun.
Its main strength is that it is the model which is universally accepted by everyone. Copernicus put forward a heliocentric model that used circular orbits. That meant he couldn't completely eliminate all the complications of the old geocentric model, such as "epicycles". Later Kepler showed that the planets move in elliptical orbits. The basic idea of the heliocentric model is that the Sun is at the centre. One of the main strengths is the simplicity of the heliocentric model. Kepler's version (still used today) of the model with its elliptical orbits is particularly elegant and simple, with no epicycles.
Kepler showed that planetary orbits were actually ellipses, not circles as proposed by Copernicus.
Ellipses.
Johannes Kepler, using measured planetary positional data provided by Tycho Brahe, showed that the orbits of the planets were ellipses ("flattened circles"), with the Sun at one focus of the eliipse.
Everyone from the ancient Greeks on knew that the planets move in oval-type orbits, which were simulated by systems of circles. Later, after years of hard work, Johannes Kepler published the laws of planetary motion in 1618 which showed that the orbits are more accurately represented by ellipses, and each planet has its own ellipse with the Sun at one focus. Ellipses make very good approximations to the actual orbits of planets, but the gravitational effects of the other planets, especially Jupiter, mean that the planets depart slightly from true elliptical orbits. That is taken care of by regular updates to the orbital elements of the planets, which are numbers which describe the sizes and shapes, orientation and inclination of all the planets' elliptical orbits.
Johannes Kepler showed that IF the planetary orbits are elliptical,THEN that would explain the measurements that Tycho Brahe collectedduring his whole life.Isaac Newton showed that IF gravity works the way he thought it does,THEN the planetary orbits would have to be elliptical.Both of these are only theories. They have never been proven.
Either the heliocentric or the geocentric model would allow predictions of thefuture motions of the planets. It was not the inability to predict that sackedthe geocentric model. It was the simplicity of the heliocentric model. Kepler'shypothetical ellipses helped a lot, and Newton's gravitation sealed the deal,when he showed that heliocentric, elliptical planetary orbits, just as Keplerdescribed them, had to spring forth from gravitation.
you showed it
The Bohr model
He showed that the planets traveled in elliptical orbits
The general laws about the planets' orbits were known before Newton - mainly, through the three Laws of Planetary Motion, by Kepler. Newton showed that the movement - as explained in Kepler's Laws - was a result of the laws of motion (especially Newton's Second Law), and of the force of gravitation.
Kepler
Because that's the way gravity works. If you take Newton's formula for the forceof gravity, and you have enough geometry and calculus, you can massage theformula around and derive Kepler's three laws of planetary motion. His first lawsays that planets move in ellipses with the sun at one focus. Kepler got that fromTycho's notebooks, where he wrote down the results of years and years of watchingand measuring the positions of the planets. Kepler showed that the ellipse was thebest fit to what Tycho actually saw happening in the sky. Then 100 years later, Newtoncame along and showed, with one simple formula to describe gravity, why orbits mustbe ellipses.