Copernicus

The modern theory is the one devised by Johannes Kepler. It uses the heliocentric idea, as Copernicus's model did, but Kepler rejected the circles and epicycles used by Copernicus and Ptolemy before him, and used elliptical orbits for the planets instead.

Kepler's model was published in 1609, and it was realised quite quickly that it represented the movements of the planets more accurately than the old models. But the old models were not bad and their inaccuracies were demonstrated only after Tycho Brahe built new, accurate measuring systems in the late 1500s. Kepler used Tycho's observations.

With 3 systems in play that were all reasonably accurate there was no way of deciding the best one, although Kepler's model was slightly better.

But in the late 1600s Isaac Newton had built on previous work to produce the law of gravity and the laws of motion. He was able to show that a planet in the Sun's gravity field must move in an elliptical orbit. This was the clincher that made people accept Kepler's model.

Copernicus was employed by the Church and was reluctant to publish work that contradicted the scriptures. Publication of his book was delayed until the year he died, 1543.

Copernicus changed the accepted heirarchy in the universe by producing a new model of the planets' movements among the fixed stars, as they were called.

The accepted model by Ptolemy, who lived in the Roman Empire, had the Earth at the centre of everything, with the Moon, Sun and everything else orbiting round it. The old model used circles and epicycles to explain the planets' orbits round the Earth (an epicycle is a small circle whose centre moves round a larger circle).

Copernicus devised an alternative model with the Sun at the centre instead, with the planets including Earth in orbit around it. He found that the new model required smaller epicycles, much small for Mercury, Venus and Mars, and this made him think it was preferable because the orbits were much closer to a simple circular shape instead of the complicated paths of the Ptolemaic system.

Copernicus did not publish the new model until the year he died, 1543, because he knew it was contrary to current religious teaching and he had no way of finding which model was more correct because both models represented the planets' movements reasonably accurately. But his work encouraged other scientists who came after him to study the problem, and the model that finally gained acceptance was Kepler's model, published in 1609, which did away with the old circles and epicycles and used elliptical orbits instead.

Kepler retained the idea of putting the Sun at the centre and this model was later accepted after it was explained by the laws of motion and the law of gravity.

Copernicus put forward the idea that the Sun, rather than the Earth, was at the center of the universe.

he used mathmadics to show the sun...

this hopefuly helped if you were in apex

I think that Copernicus preferred to work alone because what he thought went against common religious beliefs.

Galileo used more advanced technology to find stronger observational evidence than Copernicus was ever able to provide.

You don't tell us which choices you were given, so we can't help you.

He did not go to jail and was never charged with any crime. He produced a new and in some ways better model of what we call the solar system. It had the Sun at the centre, and he was nervous that it might get him into trouble with the Church (his employers), so publication of his book on the subject was delayed until the year he died, 1543.

No, that is what he didn't do. Ptolemy had already done that and basked in the glory for 1400 years. Copernicus thought that the planets' orbits could be explained more simply by considering the Sun as being at the centre, which would need fewer violent movements on the part of the planets to explain the way they move. So his 'De Revolutionibus' book published in 1543 had a new model that still used circles and epicycles, but had the Sun at the centre and smaller epicycles, especially for Venus and Mars.

1543 was also the year Copernicus died, and he was nervous about publishing the book because he knew the church's teaching at that time went along with the Bible in saying the Earth is fixed at the centre of the universe.

The later theory we use today still has the Sun at the centre, but all the old circles were thrown out by Kepler who hit on the idea of elliptical orbits instead.

1403

The church believed that the earth was at the center of the universe.

he provided observational something

treatise.

because the people would never know and this history about planet would never exist

I am pretty sure that the public disagreed with him when he suggested that the Earth spun on its own axis every 24 hours because the public thought that if it spun that fast everything will blow away with the force of the extreme wind but that didn't happen obviously cause they didn't know about atmosphere.

I am pretty sure this question is right so don't have a go at me if it isn't, but you should check other websites and I think it's right cause in school we are doing and whole topic about the Heliocentric System which Copernicus came up with.

Hope it helped.

Copernicus's model of the solar system was published in 1543. This model had the Sun at the centre and was taken up by Galileo in a way that caused a big row with the catholic church.

Kepler produced a later model in 1609 that eventually replaced all the earlier models. It used Copernicus's idea of placing the Sun at the centre, but it used the novel idea of elliptical orbits.

From a scientific point of view, whether the Earth or the Sun is at the centre is not a highly significant part of the theory. However it is of religous significance because it involves interpretation of the scriptures, and this is how Galileo's intervention led him into trouble.

Newton's discoveries in gravity and the laws of motion showed that elliptical orbits, with the Sun at the centre, could be explained by theory, and so we use Kepler's model today, and everyone accepts that including the Church.

Copernicus was the first person to show that the assumption of a helio-centric solar system made calculations of planetary orbits far simpler to understand, and held to the idea for decades. Aristarchus did propose our Sun as the center, but his ideas were roundly rejected by other Greeks. A few Arab astronomers toyed with the idea, but each ended up abandoning helio-centrism.

The Geocentric or Ptolemaic Model put the earth at the center of the Universe. The Heliocentric Model postulated by Copernicus and, before him, Aristarchus, places the Sun at the center of the Solar System. Galileo's observations proved the validity of the Heliocentric Model.

Nicholas Copernicus 1473-1543 was a Polish priest and astronomer who created an alternative model of the planets, known as the heliocentric theory, which put the Sun at the centre, instead of the Earth as generally accepted at that time.
He knew it would get him into trouble with the church, and his book 'De Revolutionibus' was not published until the year he died. The theory with the Sun at the centre was similar to the old Ptolemaic system with its collection of circles and epicycles allowing for the changes in distance and the changes in planets' speeds, and their departure from the ecliptic.
His theory was taken up by Galileo in a famous dispute with the church. At around the same time Tycho Brahe made new more accurate observations of the planets from Denmark, and these were used by Johannes Kepler to produce a new model published in 1609.
Kepler's model is the one we use today, and it has the Sun at the centre, like the Copernican model, but all the other details of Copernicus's theory were rejected in favour of elliptical orbits.

3r

A deacon of the Roman Catholic Church in an area I can not remember at the moment. Still, this was his employment for most of his life and not unusual for scientists of that era.

It represented a change in scientific thought

One aspect of Copernicus' life that remains a mystery is WHY he took the time to write a mammoth book showing the simplicity of astronomical calculations if one assumes our Sun, rather than our Earth, to be the center of our solar system. At the time, he as a government administrator, not a scientist. Although Ptolemy's ideas were difficult to use, they worked perfectly fine for anyone willing to use them; thus, there was no demand from anyone to abandon them.

It appears that Copernicus began to speculate on a heliocentric solar system about 1510, soon after he came back from his college studies in Italy. He then spent over 30 years developing these ideas, refusing to publish his work despite repeated requests to do so. WHY he put so much effort into this idea remains a mystery.