Hi Bob, You are correct on the term planets being "wonderers". If I recall correctly, that came from the Greek skywatchers.
Yes, many thought the Earth was the center of the solar system. I'm sure more believed it was the center of the universe as well! In any case, with the Sun as the center of the solar system, that was some wild "outside of the box" thinking since the church frowned upon any type of "new findings" that disputed what the church layed down. Can you imagine being ostracized, if nothing more serious, in stating and believing that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the solar system? WOW! You'd be excommunicated and strung up. Since the planets revolve around the Sun ,and not the Earth, there can't be any Keps. Keps are based on the Earth being the center of an orbiting object. I should've recalled that. However, my thinking at the time was if there are programs which display where to find planets in the sky, like Starry Night, then there'd have to be a form of calculation to determine it. I just thought of using the wrong type of calculation. 73, Jeff WB3JFS ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Bruninga" <[email protected]> To: "'Jeff Yanko'" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 5:31 AM Subject: RE: [amsat-bb] Planet Pseudo-Keps >> Are there any pseudo-keps for the planets? > > Actually, the word planet comes from the meaning "wanderers" > because that is what stumped the early astronomers thousands of > years ago. They do not have regular motion about Earth... And > Copernicus finally figured it out... They rotate around the sun. > > Bob > > _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
