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Ptolemaic system

Ptolemaic system

Ptolemy believed that Earth was at the center of the universe and that the Sun and planets orbited Earth (with the planets also moving in smaller circles called epicycles). In this system, the centers of Mercury's and Venus's epicycles always lie on the line shown in the diagram between the Earth and the Sun.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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