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nyokodo10/12/20241 replyview on HN

> Copernicus figured out that if you put the sun at the center, then epicycles weren't necessary

Actually, his model assuming circular orbits still required epicycles to explain retrograde motion etc. A major reason it never caught on was that it was less accurate than the Ptolemaic model but was more of a mathematical curiosity rather than a serious contender.


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verzali10/12/2024

Yep, it didn't really seem convincing until Kepler replaced the circles with ellipses, and even that step took a lot to move past established ideas about the perfection of nature.