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Geocentrism and Heliocentrism are not just calculation frameworks for making observations of the sky. They are also an attempt to create a model of the fundamen
by lmkg 10y ago
Geocentrism and Heliocentrism are not just calculation frameworks for making observations of the sky. They are also an attempt to create a model of the fundamental rules that govern the heavens, and then to create observable predictions based on those rules.
Heliocentrism is the better model of the two, because the paths of the planets are dominated by force of gravitational attraction to the sun. This force is what you model, regardless of your frame of reference. You can use this model to create observational predictions for any point in the solar system, but the forces that your modeling are essentially the heliocentric ones.
But to your larger point: In my grade-school science class, we were all taught that heliocentrism was itself supplanted by the discovery that the sun is rotating around the galaxy, and that modern cosmology doesn't center around anything at all. Heliocentrism is still more accurate than the geocentrism that it replaces, but is still regarded as a stepping-stone to modern theories.