Petition

So, when I considered these things, I often thought about whether a more reasonable model of the celestial spheres could be found—one in which all apparent irregularities would depend on uniformly moving circles, as the principle of absolute motion requires. Indeed, I undertook a very difficult and almost inexplicable task, but in the end, I discovered how this could be achieved with fewer and much more fitting assumptions than had previously been proposed, provided that certain principles—called axioms—are granted, which follow in this order:

First Axiom

Not all celestial orbs or spheres share a single center.

Second Axiom

The center of the Earth is not the center of the universe but only the center of gravity and the lunar orbit.

Third Axiom

All celestial spheres revolve around the Sun as if it were at the center of everything, making it the center of the universe.

Fourth Axiom

The distance between the Sun and the Earth is much smaller in comparison to the height of the firmament than the Earth’s radius is to the Sun’s distance—so much so that, in relation to the firmament, it is practically imperceptible.

Fifth Axiom

All apparent motion in the firmament does not originate from the heavens themselves but from the motion of the Earth. Thus, the Earth, along with its surrounding elements, rotates entirely around its poles in a daily motion, while the firmament and the outermost heavens remain unmoved.

Sixth Axiom

All apparent motions of celestial bodies around the Sun do not arise from the Sun itself but from the movement of the Earth and its orbit, with which we revolve around the Sun just like any other celestial body. Thus, the Earth undergoes multiple motions.

Seventh Axiom

The apparent retrograde motion and progression of the planets do not come from the planets themselves but from the motion of the Earth. This motion alone accounts for all the apparent variations observed in the heavens.

Having established these principles, I will now attempt to briefly demonstrate how the uniformity of motions can be maintained in an orderly fashion. However, for the sake of brevity, I have chosen to omit the mathematical demonstrations, which are reserved for a larger volume. Nevertheless, I will include the quantities of the orbital radii in the explanation of the circles, so that anyone with knowledge of mathematics will easily perceive how well this arrangement of the spheres aligns with numerical calculations and observations.

Therefore, lest anyone think that I have rashly asserted the mobility of the Earth following the Pythagoreans, they will find a strong argument in the explanation of these celestial circles. For those natural philosophers who try to prove the Earth’s immobility mostly rely on appearances—but all such appearances collapse here, since we account for them in a new and more accurate way.