
Contents
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Measuring the solar system Measuring the solar system
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From wandering gods to geometrical constructions From wandering gods to geometrical constructions
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The Sun takes center stage The Sun takes center stage
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Laws and order Laws and order
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Gravity rules Gravity rules
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The missing planet The missing planet
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Asteroids enter the scene Asteroids enter the scene
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Rocks in space Rocks in space
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Uranus behaving badly Uranus behaving badly
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Completing the inventory Completing the inventory
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Two Discovering the Solar System
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Published:May 2017
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Abstract
This chapter illustrates how the solar system turned out to be much larger than previously imagined. In the 2nd century AD, Greek astronomer Claudius Ptolemy, working in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, put the distance of the Sun at a mere 1,210 Earth radii, an estimate that had stood for 1,500 years. These years were a time of great scientific upheaval spurred by new instruments and techniques, and the development of powerful mathematical tools. Not only were astronomers coming to appreciate the true scale of the solar system, their entire picture of the solar system and the universe was being turned on its head. Beliefs about the solar system that had gone almost unchallenged for more than a thousand years were being called into question or overturned completely.
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