Circles within circles

[alias_sqbr]

Via stumbleupon I came across this really cool orrery. The text is absurdly small and hard to read(*), but this does mean you can turn the brightness down and just watch the motions of the planets. What I really enjoyed doing was comparing the simplicity of the paths in the Copernican (sun centric aka correct) vs Tychonian (earth centric) views, putting on planet trace or turning down the brightness and imagining what it must have been like for the astronomers trying to figure out the equations of motion back when they thought everything revolved around the earth.

Man, I feel like solving some equations now.

(*)If you can make out the planets but not the text, the copernican/tychonian buttons are in the bottom right. Top right is set the date/show zodiac/choose planet/stop planet tracing, top left is speed/sound/help, and bottom left is moon phase.

Comments

[bunny_m]

Damn, that's cool.

And pretty.

[sanguinity]

I'd love to see a version that had some of the other pre-heliocentric models, too.

Yeah, even knowing what the equations should be, I'm so not interested in doing the parameter fitting. That is a job for different minds than mine...

[sqbr]

Oh yeah, at most I'd want to get the basic shape of the equations worked out, the specifics are too fiddly.

In the applied maths course they made me do in honours for balance we did some three body problem stuff. That was...complicated.

[velithya]

THAT IS SO COOL.