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Models of the Solar System

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 Models of the Solar System

Florida Benchmark
SC.8.E.5.8 Compare various historical models of
the Solar System, including geocentric and
heliocentric.

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 Models of the Solar System

Models of The Solar System

What is a planetary system?
• A planetary system is a star and all of the
celestial bodies that revolve around it.

• An example of a planetary system is the solar

system which includes the sun and the planets
and other celestial bodies orbiting the sun.

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 Models of the Solar System
What is the Center of the Solar System?

• The early scientists, in their attempt to answer this

fundamental question created various models of
the solar system.

• Models, which placed Earth at the center, are

called Earth-centered, or geocentric, models.

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 Models of the Solar System

The Geocentric Model

• The early philosopher and astronomer believed
that everything in the universe is “perfect”; and
that the planets are perfect spheres circling in
perfect circular orbits.

• They believed the Earth was the most important

object in space and therefore assumed it to be the
center of the universe.

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 Models of the Solar System

The Geocentric Model

• Aristotle, a Greek philosopher reasoned that if
Earth circled around the sun, then the relative
positions of the stars would change as Earth
moves.

• This apparent change in the position of an object

when viewed from different angles or locations on
Earth is known as parallax.

• What Aristotle did not take into account is the fact

that stars are very far away. At such great
distance parallax cannot be observed without a
telescope.

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 Models of the Solar System

The Geocentric Model

• The geocentric model of the solar system became
a very important part of ancient Greek Astronomy
beginning in the sixth century B.C.E.

• The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.)

was among the first scholars to put forward an
Earth-centered model of the Solar System.

• His model positioned the moon, sun, planets, and

stars on a series of circles that moved around
Earth.

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 Models of the Solar System

The Geocentric Model

• Aristarchus, a Greek astronomer and
mathematician, is believed to have proposed a
sun-centered model of the solar system.

• Ptolemy an astronomer, geographer, and

mathematician, exploited Aristotle’s Earth-
centered view and developed a complex
geocentric model that was used by astronomers
over the next thousand years.

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 Historical Models of the Solar System

The Geocentric Model

• According to Ptolemy’s model, the planets moved
on small circles that in turn moved on larger
circles.

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 Historical Models of the Solar System

The Geocentric Model

• Ptolemy’s “wheels-on-wheels” model seemed to
make sense since it very well illustrated
observations made at the time going back
hundreds of years.

• Scientist for many centuries used Ptolemy’s model

to make predictions of the motions of planets
years into the future.

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 Historical Models of the Solar System

The Heliocentric Model (Sun-Centered)

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 Models of the Solar System

The Heliocentric Model

• The model which placed the sun at the center is called
the heliocentric or sun-centered model.

• The Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus

watered-down Ptolemy’s model of the solar
system since he thought the model was way too
complicated.

• Although Copernicus adopted Ptolemy’s idea that

planets’ orbits are perfect circles, he however
developed Aristarchus’s primitive sun-centered
model into a well thought out heliocentric model.

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 Models of the Solar System

The Heliocentric Model

• The heliocentric model was fiercely rejected until it was
refined and published by Copernicus and J. Kepler, a
German mathematician, in the late 16th to early 17th
centuries.

• Copernicus’s model eventually became more

widely accepted as it fit observations significantly
better than Ptolemy’s geocentric model.

• Copernicus’s model is known as the most

influential of modern astronomy.

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 Models of the Solar System

The Heliocentric Model

• Galileo Galilei was a scientist who conducted his
experiments in the manner of moderns scientists.
He actually used a very systematic approach very
similar to the scientific methods.

• Galileo’s observations showed that they are other

celestial objects beside Earth with orbiting
satellites.

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 Models of the Solar System

The Heliocentric Model

• His discovery best fit the heliocentric model.

• Galileo also observed that Venus went through

phases similar to the phases of Earth’s moon.

• The observation of these phases was more in line

with the idea that planets revolve around the sun
rather than the Earth.

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