Geocentricity: It's Still a Thing

I was surprised indeed to find that some doctored physicists are actually geocentrists!

Well, it's not that they're so hawkish on geocentricity per se, (one I've read who is also a Catholic will assert that the earth itself is at the very center of the mass of the universe and is stationary), but many will say that by the same laws of physics used to prove that the earth moves, it can be proved that it is the universe that is moving around a stationary earth.

Am I geocentrist? No. From my earliest days I've been taught the earth revolves around the sun. But I learned long ago, that that's not really true. The sun and the planets are revolving around the center of the mass of the solar system. Because the sun is so massive compared to the planets, the center of mass is inside the sun, but not in the center of the sun. That means the sun "wobbles." That is how distant solar systems are spotted. Astronomers look for wobbling stars. Here's an animation of the

concept: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/barycenter/en/

 

Why am I talking about this? Anyone who knows me, knows my hero of all time is the reformer, Martin Luther. (He's my hero, not my God. Just wanted to clarify that.) Someone said to me once, "Martin Luther wasn't all that great. He thought Galileo should be arrested for suggesting the earth moved."

What surprised me most wasn't the assertion of Luther's wishes concerning Galileo, which may or may not be true, nor was it the fact that Calvin and Luther were both geocentrists. This was the first time that was used to try to take Luther down in my estimation.

My reaction was, "So? What has heliocentricity given us?"

Anyway, this is becoming a very interesting and entertaining pursuit for me.