How could this retrograde motion be explained? Defenders of the geocentric model conceived of the so-called epicycles. In fact, the planets that orbited the earth also orbited within a small circle.

The geocentric model is a debunked theory that the Earth ... motion of the planets by removing the more complicated ideas of epicycles and deferents, according to Lumen Learning.

Image via WikiMedia The Copernican heliocentric model wasn’t much more accurate than the Ptolemaic geocentric model – it didn’t even do away with the need for epicycles. The Copernican ...

When Copernicus attempted to improve his initial model, he began adding epicycles to the orbits as well, and still couldn’t equal the successes of the geocentric model. It was an important step ...

After all, the ancient geocentric universe of Ptolemy was able to account for the observed motion of the sun, moon and planets by using the complicated motion of epicycles—circles embedded ...

How did this geocentric picture of the Universe ... In fact, Copernicus even started adding in epicycles to the heliocentric model to try and improve the orbital fits. Even with this ad hoc ...

And with time, the model gained influential proponents who contributed to it becoming the accepted convention of astronomy. The geocentric model, in which planet Earth is the center of the ...

It expanded Hipparchus’ geometric model of celestial motions, utilizing epicycles and eccentric circles in a geocentric theory which placed the Earth at the center of the solar system.