Heliocentric Model
Key Stage 2
Meaning
The Heliocentric Model of The Solar System is a model of The Solar System that placed The Sun at the centre.
About the Heliocentric Model
- 400 years ago an astronomer named Galileo made observations of the planet Jupiter using a new invention called a telescope.
- Galileo noticed in the observations that there were 4 moons that seemed to orbit Jupiter which proved Ptolemy's Geocentric Model of The Solar System was not true because not everything orbitted the Earth.
- Galileo then went on to claim that the Earth was not the centre of The Solar System but the Sun was the centre and the planets orbitted the Sun.
- Unfortunately many religious people did not like this idea and Galileo was put under house arrest for heresy until he died several years later.