Astronomy 2007

Bill Hudson wrote:
WHY is 'the Newtonian approach' false? Was he wrong that a
hypothetical observer on the sun would not see retrograde motion? No,
he was right, and the quotes you list above support that.

The false Newtonian view of what retrogrades are and hopw they are
resolved is this -

" For to the earth planetary motions appear sometimes direct, sometimes
stationary, nay, and sometimes retrograde. But from the sun they are
always seen direct," Newton

Everybody here gets the same data that was before the Ptolemaic
astronomers and Copernicus in respect to planetary motions and can
esily affirm that viewed from an orbitally moving Earth the observed
behavior of the planets can be resolved.

"Copernicus, by attributing a single annual motion to the earth,
entirely rids the planets of these extremely intricate coils [spiris],
leading the individual planets into their respective orbit[orbitas]
,quite bare and very nearly circular." Astronomia Nova 1609
Kepler

The intricate coils or spiralling motions of the planets was the
Ptolemaic answer to the observed behavior of the planets -

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0112/jupsatloop_tezel.jpg

Copernicus split the Earth into axial and orbital motions and used the
faster orbital motion of the Earth around the Sun, overtaking the
slower outer planets to account for their behavior

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0112/JuSa2000_tezel.gif

Once a person sees the faster Earth overtaking the slower forward
motion of the Jupiter and Saturn in the time lapse footage above,it
will be impossible to return to a false view based on a hypothetical
observer on the Sun to affirm what can easily be done from Earth.The
language of astronomy is as much aboiut satisfying working principles
as it is about conclusions and neither Copernicus,Galileo nor Kepler
ever resorted to hypothetical thinking in the presence of grasping
orbital motions through direct experience.Every human being is an
astronomer by virtue of living by the daily and annual cycles however
some are more astronomers than others by providing a more detailed view
of the motions of the Earth and the structure of the solar system.

There are others who can in no way bring themselves to rejecting a
false astronomical view such as Newton's however the point is that the
original texts,modern imaging and a little intutive/imaginative effort
will clearly open up an astronomical world that is nearly lost to
celestial sphere observing.Humanity has always celebrated the dawn or
the annual event when maximum darkness is passed likewise the first
sight of a astronomical dawn,by a process of modern imaging and
exquisite reasoning will restore astronomy to its geometrical purpose
once again from the darkness of careless 17th century thinking.

I am the only person here,at least so far, who celebrates the arrival
of contemporary imaging which makes the original insights of Copernicus
blossom in splitting the Earth into axial and orbital motion to account
for observed phenomena however as a shared heritage there should be
many more people who will follow in the coming years.

.