Online essay concerning the battle between Galileo and the Catholic Church over the issue of heliocentrism, or, whether the sun or the earth is at the center of the universe.

This site from The Galileo Project of Rice University contains information relating to Copernicus's sun-centered solar system theory. Pictures are provided throughout this article along with links to additional information.

Excellent resource for "paper-plate" activities that help simplify various astronomy topics. Learn how to build a "Moon Finder" and "Planet Pointer," and create a paper-plate model that explains the Transit of Venus.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Summarizes the key points about how our understanding of the Earth's movements evolved from ancient times and what we know today. Includes some questions to check...

This site from The Galileo Project of The Rice University provides a list format biography of Copernicus. The topics that are covered in this biography include: dates, father, nationality, education, religion, means of support, and so on.

Nicolaus Copernicus (February 19, 1473 - May 24, 1543) was the first astronomer to formulate a scientifically based heliocentric cosmology that displaced the Earth from the center of the universe. His epochal book, De revolutionibus...

This is a portrait of the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus devised a heliocentric model of the universe that differed from other theories at the time.