Aristarchus of Samos

Aristarchus of Samos
Aristarchus of Samos [ar΄is tär′kəs]
fl. 3d cent. B.C.; Gr. astronomer

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born с 310 BC
died с 230 BC

Greek astronomer.

His advanced ideas on the movement of the Earth (which he asserted revolved around the Sun) are known from Archimedes and Plutarch. His only surviving work is the short treatise "On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon"; though the values he obtained are inaccurate, he showed that the Sun and stars are at immense distances. A peak in the centre of a lunar crater named for him is the brightest formation on the Moon.

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▪ Greek astronomer
      (c. 310–230 BC), Greek astronomer, first to maintain that the Earth rotates and revolves around the Sun. On this ground, Cleanthes the Stoic declared that he ought to be indicted for impiety.

      Aristarchus' advanced ideas on the movement of the Earth are known from Archimedes and Plutarch; his only extant work is a short treatise, “On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon.” The values he obtained, by using geometry, are inaccurate, because of faulty observations.

      Aristarchus found a more precise value for the length of the solar year. A lunar crater is named for him; a peak in its centre is the brightest formation on the Moon.

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  • Aristarchus of Samos — biographical name circa 310 230 B.C. Greek astronomer …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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  • Aristarchus (crater) — lunar crater data caption=Aristarchus (center) and Herodotus (right) from Apollo 15. NASA photo . latitude=23.7 N or S=N longitude=47.4 E or W=W diameter=40 km depth=3.7 km colong=48 eponym=Aristarchus of SamosAristarchus is a prominent lunar… …   Wikipedia

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