The fact that the planets move around the Sun, not in circles but in e

The fact that the planets move around the Sun, not in circles but in ellipses, was first demonstrated by

[amp_mcq option1=”Galileo” option2=”Martin Luther” option3=”Johannes Kepler” option4=”Copernicus” correct=”option3″]

This question was previously asked in

UPSC CDS-1 – 2017

The correct answer is C) Johannes Kepler. The German astronomer Johannes Kepler was the first to demonstrate that the planets move around the Sun in elliptical orbits.

– Nicolaus Copernicus proposed the heliocentric model where planets orbit the Sun, but he assumed the orbits were perfect circles.
– Galileo Galilei provided telescopic observations that supported the heliocentric model but did not discover elliptical orbits.
– Johannes Kepler, using the detailed astronomical data collected by Tycho Brahe, formulated his three laws of planetary motion between 1609 and 1619.
– Kepler’s First Law states that the orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.

Kepler’s laws were a fundamental breakthrough in astronomy, replacing the ancient concept of circular orbits and providing a mathematical description of planetary motion that was later explained by Isaac Newton’s law of universal gravitation.

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