what is the difference between heliocentric and geocentric models of the solar system?

Question

im stuck on this one

Answer 1

TIMELINE

Ptolemy a Greek scholar living in Alexandria put forwards the geocentric (earth at the centre) model in the 2nd Century AD.

Copernicus published his magnum opus "On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres" in which he put forward the heliocentric (Sun at the centre) model in 1543

In 1610 Galileo Galilei armed with a telescope (these had just been invented), provided observational evidence for the heliocentric view being the correct one:

(a) he discovered four large moons of Jupiter orbiting it. Plainly everything did not revolve around the earth as geocentrism claimed it did.

(b) he discovered that Venus exhibited a full range of phases which argued that it too orbited the Sun not the Earth

Kepler's Three Laws of Planetary Motion in the 1620s which showed how planets rotated around the Sun in ellipses received further theoretical confirmation when Sir Isaac Newton published his Laws of Motion and his theory of gravitation in 1687.

This provided a framework in which the motion of bodies on earth and of large celestial bodies in space were able to be seen as obeying the same laws of Physics.

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Answer 2

"Helios" is the Greek name for the sun, so "heliocentric" means "centered on the sun." The Solar System by definition is a heliocentric model.

"Geos" is the Greek name for the earth, so "geocentric" means "centered on the earth." Geocentric models do not allow for the existence of the Solar System as we think of it, but regard the planets as foreign celestial bodies rather than as fellow travelers in orbit around the sun.

Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Kepler are all modern figures that have worked to cast these understandings in the terms we tend to use today.

The geocentric model is intuitive, and is as old as human thought. The heliocentric model always arises from even primitive observations of the apparent motions of celestial objects.

Hieratic frescoes have been found in Old Kingdom Egyptian archaeological sites that picture several planets orbiting the sun, in essentially the way we understand it today. This pre-dates Copernicus by about 6,500 years. The Persians had similar science a couple of thousand years later.

Their equipment was primitive and simple, but they had nice, dark skies and could see the stars clearly, and they had plenty of time and intellectual curiosity. So the heliocentric idea is older and less "European" than we want to claim. And we aren't as smart as we think we are, sometimes, either!

Answer 3

The heliocentric model, first seriously proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus in the 16th Century, is the basic model of the solar system accepted today. The heliocentric model overturned the geocentric model, which was proposed by Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd Century.

The heliocentric model places the sun at the center of the solar system, the geocentric model places the Earth at it's center.

Copernicus' heliocentric model is the basis for modern astronomy. In 1621, Johannes Kepler formulated the Three Laws of Planetary Motion in a work titled "Copernican Astronomy".

Answer 4

Geocentric held that the Earth stood still and the Sun, Moon, and known planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) went around the Earth. Heliocentric said the Earth was just one of the planets, and they all went around the Sun. Only the Moon went around Earth. Since the geocentric was wrong, they kept jiggling it to make it look like it worked. Eventually the planets were travelling on an epicycle going around a deferent, which went around an excentric, which went around the Earth. At which point it was so ridiculous the heliocentric theory was abandoned.

Answer 5

GEOCENTRIC- having te earth at the centre of the system. Geocentric coordinates are a system of positional measurements that are treated as being measured from the centre of the earth. a satellite that is travelling around the earth is in a geocentric orbit.
HELIOCENTRIC- havin the sun at the centre of the system. Heliocentric coordinates specify the postion of an object as seen from the centre of the sun. a body that is revolving round the sun follows a heliocentric orbit.

Answer 6

Heliocentric puts the sun at the center of the solar system; geocentric puts the Earth at the center.

Answer 7

Actually Aristarchus of Samos (3rd cent. BC) proposed the heliocentric model, but it was not accepted because it was against natural observation (things thrown upwards return back to the same place, so the earth must not be moving). Copernicus stole the idea from him, as himself wrote at the first edition of his book, but later deleted the admittion.
The geocentric model was accepted, because it could explain the phenomena. Later, Ptolemy proposed the epicycles, to explain the "backward" motion of the planets.
The heliocentric model explains this motion in a much simpler way without using epicycles.

Answer 8

heliocentric = solar system rotates around the sun (correct)

geocentric = solar system rotates around the earth (old/wrong)