PTOLEMY’S MODEL

 Ptolemy thought that all celestial objects including

orbited Earth, in the center of the universe, did not
move at all. NOTE: The outer planets, like Uranus and
Neptune, are missing from both charts because they
had not been discovered at the time
THE PTOLEMAIC MODEL
 Claudius ptolemy live in Rome around 100 AD, His model of the
solar system and heavenly sphere was a refinement of previous
models developed by Greek astronomers. Ptolemy’s major
contribution, however, was that this model could so accurately
explain the motions of heavenly bodies, it became the model for
understanding the structure of the solar system. It is beyond the
scope of this course to discuss all the complex social and
historical implication of an Earth-centered versus a Sun-
centered model of the solar system. But nearly all the early
models, including Ptolemy’s version of the solar system
,assumed that the Earth was the center of not only the solar
system, but the entire universe.
The Ptolemiac model accounted for the apparent
motions of the planets in a very direct way, by
assuming that each planet moved on a small
sphere or circle, called an epicycle, that moved on
a larger sphere or circle, called a different. The
stars, it was assumed, moved on a celestial sphere
around the outside of the planetary spheres.
As an indication of exactly how good the
Ptolemaic model is, modern planetariums are
built using gears and motors that essentially
reproduce the Ptolemic model for the appearance
of the sky as viewed from a stationary Earth. In
the planetarium projector, motors and gears
provided uniform motion of the heavenly bodies.
One motor moves the planet projector around in a
big circle, which in this case is the deferent, and
another gear or motor takes the place of the
epicycle.
Ptolemy’s fame comes partly from what he figured out,
but his influence was largely because he wrote a great
summary of everything known about astronomy. Ptolemy
insisted that the job of the astronomer was to explain the
motions of the wanderers using only uniform circular
motion – the kind of motion that most gears and wheels
show. To make the planets appear to speed up and slow
down, three tricks were used. The epicycles we’ve just
shown were the first trick. The second trick was to move
the observer out of the center of the circle, putting us
into an ’’eccentric’’ position. The third trick was called
the equant and is illustrated.
While the fact that we base planetarium
projectors on the ptolemic model of the universe
that was developed almost 2,000 years ago may
seem impressive, a better test of the model is how
long the model was accepted by society. In this
case, the ptolemic model was not seriously
challenged for ovar 1,300 years. When and why it
finally needed to be replaced will be describe in
the next subunit.