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Copernican system
Copernican system first modern European theory of planetary motion that was heliocentric, i.e., that placed the sun motionless at the center of the solar system with all the planets, including the earth, revolving around it. Copernicus developed his theory in the early 16th cent. from a study of ancient astronomical records. He retained the ancient belief that the planets move in perfect circles and therefore, like Ptolemy , he was forced to utilize epicycles to explain deviations from uniform motion (see Ptolemaic system ). Thus, the Copernican system was technically only a slight improvement over the Ptolemaic system. However, making the solar system heliocentric removed the largest epicycle and explained retrograde motion in a natural way. By liberating astronomy from a geocentric viewpoint, Copernicus paved the way for Kepler's laws of planetary motion and Newton 's embracing theory of universal gravitation , which describes the force that holds the planets in their orbits.
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"Copernican system." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Copernican system." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Copernc-sy.html "Copernican system." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Copernc-sy.html |
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Copernican system
Copernican system A model of the Solar System proposed by N.Copernicus in which the Sun lay at the centre with the planets orbiting around it; the stars lay at a vast distance beyond the planets. The model retained the circular orbits and epicycles of the Ptolemaic system, but incorporated Copernicus's own observations. It also contained elements from variants of the Ptolemaic system proposed by the Arab astronomers al-Ṭūsī and Ibn al-Shāṭir (1304–75), which Copernicus apparently knew about. In Copernicus's model the motion of the sky results from the Earth's axial rotation. The Copernican system reproduced planetary motion no better than the Ptolemaic system did, because the concept of elliptical orbits had not yet been introduced, and until that advance by J.Kepler it found little acceptance. However, it was significant in removing the Earth from the centre of the Universe.
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"Copernican system." A Dictionary of Astronomy. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Copernican system." A Dictionary of Astronomy. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O80-Copernicansystem.html "Copernican system." A Dictionary of Astronomy. 1997. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O80-Copernicansystem.html |
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Copernican system
Copernican system the theory that the sun is the centre of the solar system, with the planets (including the earth) orbiting round it, formulated by the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543). He proposed a model of the solar system in which the planets orbited in perfect circles around the sun, and his work ultimately led to the overthrow of the established geocentric cosmology. He published his astronomical theories in De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (1543).
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Copernican system." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Copernican system." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Copernicansystem.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Copernican system." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Copernicansystem.html |
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Copernican system
Co·per·ni·can sys·tem / kəˈpərnikən/ (also Copernican theory) • n. Astron. the theory that the sun is the center of the solar system, with the planets (including the earth) orbiting around it. Compare with Ptolemaic system. |
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"Copernican system." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Copernican system." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-copernicansystem.html "Copernican system." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-copernicansystem.html |
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Copernican System
Copernican System See LUNAR TIME SCALE.
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AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "Copernican System." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "Copernican System." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-CopernicanSystem.html AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "Copernican System." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-CopernicanSystem.html |
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