Why did the ancient Greeks reject the notion that the Earth orbits the sun?
:© 2004 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Addison-Wesley Why did the ancient Greeks reject the notion that the Earth orbits the sun? It ran contrary to their senses. If the Earth rotated, then there should be a “great wind” as we moved through the air. Greeks knew that we should see stellar parallax if we orbited the Sun – but they could not detect it. Parallax Angle :© 2004 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Addison-Wesley Parallax Angle Apparent shift of a star’s position due to the Earth’s orbiting of the Sun The nearest stars are much farther away than the Greeks thought. So the parallax angles of the star are so small, that you need a telescope to observe them. Possible reasons why stellar parallax was undetectable: :© 2004 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Addison-Wesley Possible reasons why stellar parallax was undetectable: Stars are so far away that stellar parallax is too small for naked eye to notice Earth does not orbit Sun; it is the center of the universe Unfor