Which Polish-born astronomer proposed that the planets orbit the sun, and was later proved right?
Orbit of Venus system). Observation of the phases of Venus was inconsistent with this view but was consistent with the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus’s idea that the solar system is centered on the Sun. Galileo’s observation of the phases of Venus provided the first direct observational evidence for Copernican theory. Observations of transits of Venus across the Sun have played a major role in the history of astronomy in the determination of a more accurate value of the astronomical unit. Venus has a very well observed and predictable orbit. From the perspective of all but the most demanding its orbit is simple. An
Orbit of Mars a German astronomer, it was believed, or assumed, that planets traveled in circular orbits around the Sun. When Kepler studied Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe's careful observations of Mars's position in the sky on many nights, Kepler realized that Mars's orbit could not be a circle. After considerable analysis, Kepler discovered that Mars's orbit was an ellipse, with the Sun occupying one of the elliptical orbit's two focal points. This, in turn, led to Kepler's discovery that all planets orbit the Sun in elliptical orbits, with the Sun at one of the two focal points. This became the first of Kepler's