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VIEW: Renaissance Astronomers
Renaissance Astronomers
A statue of Tycho Brahe. Photo provided by malouette/Flickr. Licensed
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe created elaborate star charts and cataloged the movement of the planets. His observations about the motions of stars and planets were used to support Kepler's work on the laws of planetary motion.
Nicolas Copernicus
Picture of Nicolas Copernicus. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia. Picture is in the public domain
Nicolas Copernicus created the "Heliocentric model" of the solar system, which means the planets revolve around the sun. This model was opposite the one the ancient Greeks believed, and Copernicus's discovery was controversial at the time. During his time, the churches supported the Earth-centered model of the universe put forth by the Greeks. Therefore, Copernicus's Sun-centered model of the universe put him in opposition to the prevailing churches of his time.
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei, often referred to as just "Galileo," found sunspots on the Sun and surface features in the moon (craters, peaks, etc.). Galileo's finding proved that the planets and stars weren't perfect spheres. He was the first astronomer to make extensive use of a telescope to study space and gather evidence to support the Sun-centered model of the universe.
All of these astronomers showed us that the universe is far more complex than early astronomers previously thought. And each of these contributions set the stage for modern astronomers.
Sources http://www.windows.ucar.edu (permits educational or research use) and Teachers' Domain, Galileo: Sun-Centered System, published December 17, 2005, retrieved on July 14, 2010, http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.eiu.galileosys/
Johan Kepler
Kepler showed that Mars revolved around the Sun in an "elliptical" orbit. Elliptical is like a circle, but a little stretched out. Before Kepler, people believed that the planets and stars revolved around the Earth in a perfect circle.All of these astronomers showed us that the universe is far more complex than early astronomers previously thought. And each of these contributions set the stage for modern astronomers.
Sources http://www.windows.ucar.edu (permits educational or research use) and Teachers' Domain, Galileo: Sun-Centered System, published December 17, 2005, retrieved on July 14, 2010, http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.eiu.galileosys/
Last modified: Wednesday, 18 August 2010, 3:04 PM