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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!!
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To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (44006)7/5/1999 9:05:00 PM
From: The Philosopher  Read Replies (2) of 108807
 
Actually, it's basically a convenience to say what orbits what. Depends entirely on your point of reference. I still recall spending several days of in college doing the mathematical proof that Ptolemy's theory that the sun orbited the Earth on epicycles and epicycles on epicycles was mathematically identical to Copernicus's theory that the earth orbited the sun. We could still be using Ptolemy's theories to describe the actions of the planets in our Solar System if we wanted to. (Gets a bit more difficult when you start tossing in the fixed starts, but can still work as long as you posit enough epicircular fixed start globes.)
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