|
Copernicus saw that the system could be greatly simplified by putting the sun, rather than the earth, in the center of the circular planetary orbits. The earth he assumed to move in the third circular orbit from the sun, and to rotate every twenty-four hours on its axis, thus accounting for day and night. It was a simpler system than Ptolemy's, while being equally accurate. It still depended on numerous epicycles to account for small irregularities while maintaining circular orbits.
|
 |
