In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus revived Aristarchus' Heliocentric System in
an attempt to rid Ptolemy's geocentric system of the un-Aristotelian
idea of the Equant. He desired to create a model of the planets that
would please the mind as well as preserving appearances. Rather than
reinstate the ideal of the Aristotelian World View, he was to set the
stage f ... Show More
Oct 2007
Lecture 12: The Wanderers
How do the planets move across the sky? This lecture discusses the
motions of the 5 naked-eye planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and
Saturn) as seen from the Earth. We introduce the major configurations
of the planets, and then discuss their apparent retrograde motions. The
... Show More
42m 34s