When Copernicus first created his Sun-centered model of the universe,it did not lead to substantially better predictions of planetary positions than the Ptolemaic model.Why not?
A)Copernicus used perfect circles for the orbits of the planets,though they are actually ellipses.
B)Copernicus placed the planets in the wrong order going outward from the Sun.
C)Copernicus misjudged the distances between the planets.
D)Copernicus placed the Sun at the center,but did not realize that the Moon orbits Earth.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Copernicus used perfect circles for the orbits of the planets, although they are actually ellipses. This means that the predictions for planetary positions were not substantially better than the Ptolemaic model, which also used circles for the orbits. It wasn't until Johannes Kepler later refined the model to include elliptical orbits that much better predictions were possible.

When Copernicus First Created His Sun-Centered Model of the Universe,it