The geocentric system of the world is such a concept of the structure of the universe, according to which the central body in the entire Universe is our Earth, and the Sun, Moon, as well as all other stars and planets revolve around it.
Earth from ancient times was considered the center of the universe, having a central axis and asymmetry "up - down". According to these ideas, the Earth is held in space with the help of a special support, which in early civilizations was represented by giant elephants, whales or turtles.
The geocentric system as a separate concept appeared thanks to the ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher Thales of Miletus. He represented the world ocean as a support for the Earth and assumed that the Universe has a centrally symmetrical structure and does not have any preferred direction. For this reason, the Earth, located in the center of the Cosmos, is at rest without any support. The student of Anaximander of Miletus, Anaximenes of Miletus, somewhat departed from the conclusions of Thales of Miletus, suggesting that the Earth is held in space by compressed air.
Geocentric system for many centuries was the only correct idea of the structure of the world. The point of view of Anaximenes of Miletus was shared by Anaxogoras, Ptolemy and Parmenides. What point of view Democritus adhered to is unknown to history. Anaximander assured that the shape of the Earth corresponds to a cylinder, whose height is three times less than the diameter of its base. Anaxogoras, Anaximenes and Leukill claimed that the Earth is flat. The first to suggest that the Earth is spherical was the ancient Greek mathematician, mystic and philosopher - Pythagoras. Further, the Pythagoreans, Parmenides and Aristotle joined his point of view. Thus, the geocentric system was framed in a different context, its canonical form appeared.
In the future, the canonical form of geocentric representations was actively developed by astronomers of ancient Greece. They believed that the Earth has the shape of a ball and occupies a central position in the Universe, which also has the shape of a sphere, and that the Cosmos rotates around the world axis, causing the movement of heavenly bodies. The geocentric system has been constantly improved by new discoveries.
So Anaximenes came up with the assumption that the higher the position of the star, the longer the period of its revolution around the Earth. The order of the luminaries was built as follows: the first from the Earth was the Moon, followed by the Sun, followed by Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Concerning Venus and Mercury, there were disagreements based on the contradiction of their location. Aristotle and Platoplaced Venus and Mercury behind the Sun, and Ptolemy claimed that they were between the Moon and the Sun.
The geocentric coordinate system is used in the modern world to study the movement of the Moon and spacecraft around the Earth, as well as to determine the geocentric positions of celestial bodies moving around the Sun. An alternative to the geocentric theory is the heliocentric system, according to which the Sun is the central celestial body, and the Earth and other planets revolve around it.
