Copernicus and The Trial of Galileo

The Geocentric theory is a greek theary that maintained that Earth was the center of the universe. It seemed important to early astronomers that the rest of the universe moved around a stable, motionless Earth. The Sun, Moon, planets, and stars could be seen moving around Earth along circular paths day after day. It appeared reasonable to assume that Earth was stationary, because it seemed to not to move.

The heliocentric theory is a theory that states that the Sun is the central body of the solar system and perhaps of the universe. Everything else revolves around it. The first evidence of the theory is found in the writings of ancient Greek philosopher-scientists deduced by the sixth century B.C. that Earth is round (nearly spherical) from observations that during eclipses of the Moon , Earth's shadow on the Moon is always a circle of about the same radius wherever the Moon is on the sky. Only a round body can always cast such a shadow.

The Geocentric Theory came before the Heliocentric theory. The Heliocentric theory came about during the Scientific Revolution. The theory that has been proven true would be the heliocentric theory. Todat we all know that the sun is in the center of the Universe.

Galileo Galilei was on trial for writing in a book his idea that the Earth was not at the center of the universe, that the sun was at the center. The Catholic Church believed in the Geocentric theory. They believed that the universe revolved around the Earth. Galileo was sentencted to house arrest.