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

Galileo
Martin Luther
Johannes Kepler
Copernicus
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.
Exit mobile version