MeJennifer said:The sun is very close but not exactly in the center of the solar system. Gravitation causes not only the planets but also the sun to revolve a little bit.
Claude Bile said:I don't think one person "discovered" that we are not at the centre of the universe, this was a view that evolved as the influence of church doctrine (which said that we ARE at the centre of the universe) faded and the scientific method gained momentum. Eventually once all the religious hyperbole was discarded, it became obvious that we probably weren't at the centre of the universe, or indeed, whether it even makes sense to define a centre for a universe that is infinite in extent - an infinite universe was a view that was not seriously challenged until Edwin Hubble's work.
Claude.
You may want to research the history of stellar parallax. In the early 19th century, instrumentation was advanced enough to allow annual observations from the extrema of Earth's orbit to estimate the distances to the closest stars. Variations in stellar parallax (and the inability to see ANY parallax in more distant stars) would have spelled the death-knell for any residing notion that the stars were fixed on a celestial sphere. To the contrary, the stars surrounding us are at various distances.Izzhov said:Ok, let me rephrase the question again. Who proved that the stars didn't revolve around the Sun?
Not that I'm advocating Wikipedia as the definitive authority ... if anybody has more reliable sources it would be nice to hear about them.wikipedia said:The thinking that the heliocentric view was also not true in a strict sense was achieved in steps. That the Sun was not the center of the universe, but one of innumerable stars, was strongly advocated by the mystic Giordano Bruno; Galileo made the same point, but said very little on the matter, perhaps not wishing to incur the church's wrath. Over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, the status of the Sun as merely one star among many became increasingly obvious. By the 20th century, even before the discovery that there are many galaxies, it was no longer an issue.
The astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus is credited with the discovery that the Sun is at the center of the solar system. He published his findings in his book "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium" in 1543.
Copernicus used a combination of mathematical calculations and observations of the movements of the planets to develop his heliocentric model of the solar system. He also took into account the work of ancient Greek astronomers and mathematicians.
No, Copernicus was not the first person to suggest a heliocentric model. Ancient Greek astronomers such as Aristarchus and later astronomers like Nicolaus Capernicus, Galileo Galilei, and Johannes Kepler all proposed similar models, but it was Copernicus who provided the most detailed and accurate explanation.
Copernicus' discovery revolutionized scientific thought and challenged the widely accepted geocentric model of the universe. It paved the way for future advancements in astronomy and laid the foundation for the modern understanding of the solar system.
Copernicus' discovery is still relevant today as it demonstrated the power of critical thinking and the importance of questioning accepted beliefs. It also serves as a reminder that scientific theories are constantly evolving as new evidence and technology become available.