Who disproved that the earth was the center of the universe?
i'm doing an essay. and also, can anybody give me scientific theories (or any theories) which have already been disproved? and also please tell me who disproved them. thank you very much! ex. the world was flat (disproved by magellan when he circumnavigated the world)
What is the difference between geostationary and geosynchronous orbits?
This has been a topic for confusion for many.Geosynchronous - An orbit around Earth whose orbital period is equal to a sidereal day (23 hours, 56 minutes), irrespective of its inclination.- A person on a point on Earth, will see a satellite in this orbit in the same place in the sky at the same time of the day, everyday.Geostationary - A geosynchronous orbit around Earth at 35,786 km above the equator, so that it remains stationary as seen from Earth. - A person on any point on Earth, will see a satellite in this orbit stationary w.r.t his position, just like a star in the sky.Every geostationary orbit is a geosynchronous orbit but not the other way around.Other geosynchronous orbitsGeosynchronous orbits, which are not geostationary, can be 'circular and inclined to equator' OR can be 'elliptical with any inclination'. E.g. QZSS orbit - Slightly elliptical, highly inclined (43 deg) orbit whose ground trace looks like this - NOT STATIONARY W.R.T GROUND
How did Galileo come up with the theory that the Earth revolved around the sun?
Heliocentrism (the idea that the Earth revolves around the sun) is usually attributed to the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, and refined by Johannes Kepler. Aristarchus proposed a heliocentric system around 270 B.C., and various others doubted the geocentric (earth-centered) model before Copernicus.Ptolemy's system was complex. Occasionally planets exhibit "retrograde" motion: they appear to reverse directions against the background of stars. Ptolemy's explanation of this phenomena was this motion was real, and caused by the planets moving in "epicycles" around a deferent circle. It turns out that you can match the motion of the planets pretty well by such a mathematical model (at least, the motion as measured by the naked eye) even though the actual motion of the planets doesn't have that form. Copernicus elaborated the heliocentric model in his work De Revolutionibus in 1543. Copernicus argued that the apparent retrograde motion of planets wasn't real, but caused by a parallax effect: as the Earth passed Mars in its orbit, the apparent position of Mars would appear to back up, the same way that a car on the highway seems to back up when you pass it at a faster speed. Copernicus showed that the complex system of epicycles wasn't necessary: you could compute the past and future positions of the planets with his new model. But there was no real evidence to suggest that it was actually true instead of geocentrism (except perhaps for Occam's Razor). Until Galileo.Galileo was one of the first observational astronomers who had access to the newly invented telescope. He made observations of both Jupiter and Venus, and published The Starry Messenger in 1610. What he discovered was that like the moon, Venus exhibited a full range of crescent phases, an observation which was not consistent with geocentrism, but was consistent with heliocentrism. Similarly, while observing Jupiter, he found four previously undiscovered moons which were obviously orbiting Jupiter. Certainly if those bodies could circle Jupiter, it was support of at least the idea that bodies could orbit bodies other than the Earth.The Catholic Church was not happy with this notion, and placed Galileo under house arrest for the remainder of his life for expressing these ideas.Isaac Newton formulated his theory of gravitation and published it in 1687, and that marked the end of heliocentrism.The Wikipedia page has some good links.Heliocentrism
What does Hinduism say about the shape of the Earth?
Have you read the story of Dashavtar?If you have read then you wouldn’t have got this question.Let me tell you the story of the Varaha avatar Lord Vishnu.Hiranyaksha, son of Diti and Kashyapa, gets a boon from Lord Brahma that he cannot be killed by a list of species and creatures and humans and devatas. But he forgets to mention Varaha, a boar. After getting the boon, he conquers all the three worlds and threatenes the Devtas who run to Lord Vishnu for help. In the meanwhile Hiranyaksha boasts in front of Narada muni, that he the most powerful one in the whole universe. But Narada Muni says that you are not powerful one untill you defeat Lord Vishnu. So, the daitya asks for the secret of enraging Lord Vishnu so that he comes for a batte with him. Narada muni insists on kidnapping Bhudevi (earth) since she is his wife.Hiranyaksha takes the advice (or rather a plan of Devtas and Narada muni) and kidnaps Bhudevi and hides her in Ksheer sagara. The enraged Lord takes form of a wild Boar, the Varaha and kills the daitya. Then, the Bhudevi is brought out of the Ksheer sagar by the Varaha carrying her as in the pictureAnother instance is that the subject of Geography is called Bhugolashastra, Bhu meaning earth and Gola meaning round. Space science is called Khagolashastra. Khagola meaning science of the round planet earth.So I hope your doubt is cleared.:)Edit:-More proofs for round shape of the earth:Aryabhattiam: Bhūgolah sarvato vrtah - earth is round from all sidesRigveda: Cakrānāshah parīnaham prthivyā - people who reside on the surface of Earth's circumferenceSource: Eternally Talented India-108 facts (book by Ramakrishna Math)Ps:- Sorry for the low resolution of the pic. Source is Google.