1-156-215 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Copernican sun-centred (heliocentric) system of the universe, 1708. This shows the orbit of the Moon round the Earth, and the orbits of the Earth and planets round the Sun, including Jupiter and its moons, all surrounded by the 12 signs of the zodiac. The figure at bottom right is Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). Prior to the work of Copernicus the Earth was considered to be the stationary centre of the universe, a notion first advocated by the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy. From Harmonia Macrocsmica by Andreas Cellarius. (Amsterdam, 1708).