Erenjaeger
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Whose observations did Kepler use to prove that planets do in fact orbit in ellipses ?? Was it Tycho's observations?
Thanks.
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Kepler's Laws of planetary motion
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You really have to hand it to those early astronomers. Everything was measured using the naked eye and some very crude instruments. No Go-To telescopes available in those days. I guess the only thing on their side would have been No Light Pollution. (Put that candle out!)Erenjaeger said:
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I don't think I would use the word "crude" to describe Tycho's Great Equatorial Armillary that he used to gather the observations that Kepler used. See the attached drawing. It was 3 meters in diameter and accurate to approximately 1 minute of arc. Of course we can do much better today, but for the time it was a very well designed and impressive instrument.
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The word "crude" was comparative and not intended to offend anyone. I wouldn't mind betting that Keppler himself would have used the word if he could see what we use now.phyzguy said:
One minute of arc is, in some respects, a barn door. The accuracy of clocks (time is as important as angle) was not good and I would reckon that accuracy of measuring long baselines would also not be very special.
No.They did a great job with what they had to hand.