Kepler's first law worked, where Copernicus' original heliocentric model failed, becauseKepler described the orbits as:
A)elliptical, not circular.
B)much larger than Copernicus had envisioned.
C)around the Sun, not the Earth.
D)being on equants instead of epicycles.
E)complex, with epicycles to account for retrograde motions.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Kepler's first law described the orbits of planets as elliptical, not circular, which was different from Copernicus' original heliocentric model. The key difference between Kepler's model and Copernicus' model is that Kepler described the orbits of the planets as elliptical, whereas Copernicus had assumed that they moved in perfect circles. This was a significant improvement because it more closely matched the observational data, which had shown that the planets sometimes appeared to move faster or slower than Copernicus' model predicted. By allowing for elliptical orbits, Kepler was able to explain this phenomenon and make more accurate predictions about the positions of the planets.

Kepler's First Law Worked, Where Copernicus' Original Heliocentric Model Failed