WHY WAS THIS MODEL SO IMPORTANT?
By answering the question of what was at the centre of the Solar System, astronomers were able to find the answers to other questions too. Mercury and Venus’ orbits were placed between the Sun and Earth, revealing to astronomers why they appeared so different in size and shape over time. When the planets were on the far side of the Sun relative to the position of Earth, the bodies appeared much smaller in the sky. When on one side of the Sun, the light hitting the planets gave them a crescent shape to observers.
Almost a century after Copernicus’ theory was released, scientists such as
Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton were able to use the heliocentric model to make new findings. Kepler and Newton worked out precise measurements of the planets’ movements around the
Sun, while Galileo used his telescope to prove heliocentrism.