Abstract
Almost all models of planetary orbits, from Aristotle through Newton, include void points, empty points in space that have an essential role in defining the orbit. By highlighting the role of these void points, as well as the rosette pattern of the orbit that often results, I bring out different features in the history of planetary astronomy and place a different emphasis on its revolutionary changes, different from those rendered in terms of epicycles or the location of the earth.
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References
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Acknowledgments
I thank Tony De Luz of the Northern Arizona IDEA Lab for drawing all of the splendid pictures. I also thank Roger H. Stuewer for his very careful editing. The final product is much improved by both of their contributions.
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Peter Kosso teaches philosophy of science at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.
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Kosso, P. Void Points, Rosettes, and a Brief History of Planetary Astronomy. Phys. Perspect. 15, 373–390 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-013-0112-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-013-0112-6
Keywords
- Aristotle
- Eudoxus
- Vitruvius
- Apollonius
- Hipparchus
- Ptolemy
- Nicolaus Copernicus
- Georg Peurbach
- Georg Rheticus
- Tycho Brahe
- Johannes Kepler
- Isaac Newton
- planetary orbits
- epicycles
- void points
- rosettes
- history of astronomy