History can't tell us for sure who the first person was to explain why the Sun and the stars move across the sky. However, the majority of historians, mathematicians and scientists believe it was Copernicus. This initial understanding about the solar system and the universe paved the path towards a more accurate scientific view of how matter outside our world is. It was the first theory that displaced our planet Earth from the center of the universe.
• Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a mathematician and astronomer who worked in the renaissance period. He was the first person to produce a cosmological model that did not feature the Earth at the center of everything. Although his ideas were at first rejected by both other scientists and the church, we now know he was fundamentally correct. His book 'De revolutionibus orbium coelestium' was published in 1543, just before his death. It is now considered to be the origin of modern astronomy. Later scientists built on his work to produce more sophisticated ideas about how the planets moved.
• How the Sun and stars cross the sky
The Sun and the stars appear to cross the sky as the Earth is rotating on its axis. This is how we get light at daytime and darkness at nighttime. In addition to the Earth revolving, it rotates around the Sun, due to the force gravity provides. These phenomena explain how the Sun and stars appear to move, even though it is the Earth itself that is moving. It should be noted that we talk of movements here that are relative to each other. In fact, the Earth, the Sun and the stars are all moving at incredibly high velocities through space. This is hard to imagine as we can't feel this movement down on Earth.
• Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a mathematician and astronomer who worked in the renaissance period. He was the first person to produce a cosmological model that did not feature the Earth at the center of everything. Although his ideas were at first rejected by both other scientists and the church, we now know he was fundamentally correct. His book 'De revolutionibus orbium coelestium' was published in 1543, just before his death. It is now considered to be the origin of modern astronomy. Later scientists built on his work to produce more sophisticated ideas about how the planets moved.
• How the Sun and stars cross the sky
The Sun and the stars appear to cross the sky as the Earth is rotating on its axis. This is how we get light at daytime and darkness at nighttime. In addition to the Earth revolving, it rotates around the Sun, due to the force gravity provides. These phenomena explain how the Sun and stars appear to move, even though it is the Earth itself that is moving. It should be noted that we talk of movements here that are relative to each other. In fact, the Earth, the Sun and the stars are all moving at incredibly high velocities through space. This is hard to imagine as we can't feel this movement down on Earth.
