Aristarchus' Unbelievable Discoveries
Explanation:
Here lived one of the greatest thinkers in human history.
Aristarchus lived on the Greek island of Samos, a small island in the center
of the
above picture
that can be identified with a
good map. Aristarchus, who lived from 310 BC to 230 BC,
postulated that the planets orbited the
Sun - not the
Earth -- over a thousand years before
Copernicus and
Galileo made similar arguments. Aristarchus used clear
logic to
estimate the size of the Earth, the size and distance to our
Moon, the size and distance to our Sun, then
he even deduced that the points of light we see at night are not dots painted on
some celestial sphere but
stars like our Sun at enormous distances.
Aristarchus'
discoveries remained truly unbelievable to the people of his time but stand today
as pillars of deductive reasoning.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
