elliptical(Keplers Law) or perfectly circular (Pythagorean, Ancient Greek)? I say elliptical. and did Indians observe elliptical motion of the planets before Kepler?
2007-01-12 11:43:03 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
I don't know about that but I do know that the Indian astronomers and mathematicians found out a lot of things that were wrongly credited to Greek scientists several centuries later. Even Pythagoras is rumored to have learnt the triangle law from an Indian mathematician who was visiting Greece.
2007-01-12 12:13:04 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
the problem with Indian astros was that they were considering earth as centre of the universe. so the orbits of the planets were quite weired. the planets followed there normal circular path except at some places where there was an extra loop in the path, which made the planet to look like going in back word direction relative to it's normal orbital direction i.e. say if we consider Jupiter's position each nite at a particular time,then Jupiter looks like moving westwards,(i.e. if we keep on taking photos at the same time in nite and compare them then position of Jupiter will be slightly shifted) then in some days of the year, it would look like going eastwards (at this time it is travelling in that loop) and after some days it will again start moving westwards.
on the other hand Kepler considered Sun to be as the centre of universe an he got elliptical orbits.
the interesting thing here is, Kepler did this reformulation of orbital motion just to simplify things and he got sun to be at the centre of universe( it is not that he first assumed sun at the centre and found the laws), but no body in ancient India ( except Aryabhatta who actually found the similar results as Kepler) thought of doing the simplification. the reason may be the excellence of Indian people in maths.
2007-01-13 01:21:50 · answer #2 · answered by girish k 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nobody thought the planets moved in elliptical paths before Kepler. Even Kepler found it hard to believe, but that was what Tycho's observations and Kepler's math said it had to be.
2007-01-12 11:50:58 · answer #3 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
very old age indians observed and calculate its motion by eyes
2007-01-12 12:57:51 · answer #4 · answered by keral 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Did you heard about Aryabhatiya..?
Beter find out related articals and books it will help you.
2007-01-12 16:46:50 · answer #5 · answered by Ashish N 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
no
2007-01-12 23:01:21 · answer #6 · answered by akshay 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋