The Influence Of Ptolemy's Astronomy

Ptolemy is a astronomer that made many observations of his time and they were accepted by many and he even developed the name “al-Magistri” or “The Greatest.” Ptolemy made observations of the universe, the article stating, “Ptolemy accepted Aristotle’s idea that the Sun and the planets revolve around a spherical Earth, a geocentric view. Ptolemy developed this idea through observation and in mathematical detail.” Even though in the early decades of Ptolemy’s life and the limitations of technology, he still discovered the other planets in the universe and how they moved. It is still amazing that he thought the Earth was the middle of the universe because, at the time, he would have only been limited to the naked eye and some mathematical problems and the time to watch the planets and how they move. The article then talks about how Ptolemy theorised …show more content…
He also thought that beyond the sun was Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, which orbit Earth from a huge distance. He also believed that beyond Saturn was another sphere that had all the stars and spheres orbiting around it. Lastly, the article states, “Muslims Arabs conquered Egypt in 641 CE. Muslims scholars mostly accepted Ptolemy’s astronomy.They referred to him as al-Magisti or The Greatest. Islamic astronomers corrected some of Ptolemy’s errors and made other advances, but they did not make the leap to a heliocentric (Sun centered) universe.” The fact that Ptolemy made these discoveries is amazing, but the fact that people believed them for years is even more amazing. That one person limited to time and observations of the sky, managed to have people believe that everything in the universe orbited around Earth and that there was another sphere in the Universe that had all of the stars orbiting