Aristarchus Contribution IRP 2

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York University *

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1745

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Astronomy

Date

Oct 30, 2023

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Uploaded by CorporalPelicanMaster422

The heliocentric model of the universe puts the Sun at the center of the solar system, and directly opposes the ideas of the geocentric model which put the Earth at the centre of the universe. Aristarchus was a well-known Greek mathematician and astronomer who is credited for first proposing the heliocentric model of the universe, being the first to propose that the sun was at the centre of the universe, and despite this theory ultimately being correct, Aristarchus was mocked and criticized for this theory all throughout his lifetime. Aristarchus is recognised for creating the heliocentric model of the universe, which put the Sun in the centre of the solar system, and he was also successful in placing the planets in the correct order in comparison to the Sun. In his model of the universe, Aristarchus showed the Sun in a fixed position, and the planets rotating around the sun in near-round orbits. Furthermore, the stars which are generally immobile, are observed as moving due to the singular orbit of the Earth on its own axis. He was among the pioneering astronomers who established the relative sizes of the Earth, Moon, and Sun. He achieved this by observing the Moon during a lunar eclipse and measuring the height and size of the Earth. [2]. The Sun, Moon, and Earth form a nearly perfect angle throughout the eclipse's first and last phases. According to his calculations, the Sun is 19 times further away from Earth and the Moon. He miscalculated, reporting that the angle was 87 degrees rather than the 89 degrees that was really discovered. The actual distance was 390 times as opposed to Aristarchus' calculation of 19 times due to mistake in his work. Even if the geometric theory had been changed, the computations were incorrect owing to inadequate tools rather than a lack of thought. [3] [5] After realizing that the sun was far larger than Earth, Aristarchus ultimately came to the conclusion that all the planets, including Earth, rotated around the sun.

The primary obstacle was the Roman Catholic Church, a strong organization at the time of the discovery that likewise regarded the theory as heretical. This might be used as justification for why Copernicus held off on disclosing his hypothesis until after his passing. The Roman Catholic Church made every effort to disprove and suppress Aristarchus' heliocentric theory, including imprisoning proponents of the theory like Galileo [7], who spent his final years in jail thanks to the Church. Unfortunately, some of Aristarchus' important contributions to the heliocentric theory mentioned by Archimedes have been lost. Though approximately 1800 years after Aristarchus, when Copernicus found and examined his papers, his theory was validated [3]. Despite not being as highly regarded as Aristotle and Ptolemy as philosophers, Aristarchus made several important scientific advances. Later Greek astronomers like Hipparchus and Ptolemy refined Aristarchus' techniques and generated incredibly accurate calculations of the Moon's relative distance [3]. Aristarchus is remembered for his brilliance and contributions to science, and he even has a lunar crater named in his honour [6].

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