From Orreries to WorldWide Telescope: Making 2D Paths on the Sky into Motions in a 3D Universe

Several different three dimensional models of the Universe can reproduce the two dimensional motions we see in our night sky accurately. It was not until barely 150 years before the Pope Orrery was constructed that astronomers universally agreed upon the model we understand today, where the planets go around the Sun, Earth is one of them, and the Moon goes around the Earth.  Going backwards from a two dimensional view of a physical system with which one is not familiar to a three-dimensional perspective is not easy, and so it is not surprising that the ancients and even scientists in the Renaissance came up with so many alternative mental models that could've worked. Along with the mental models, they often made physical models that were precursors of the Pope Orrery. Modern computer software allows us to experiment with and show any models imaginable, including the correct physical model of the universe as we know it today. In this talk, I will demonstrate the importance of going from two dimensions to three dimensions in astronomy, not only in the solar system, but way beyond, all the way out to our expanding universe. I will use the WorldWide Telescope software to take the audience on a live tour of what we know in three dimensions and connect the coordinate systems we use now to those in the mechanism of the Pope Orrery.

Event Website: Creating an Ordered World in Disordered Times: The Pope Orrery 

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