Therefore, In The Course Of The Work

In So Many And Such Important Ways, Then, Do The Planets Bear Witness To The Earth's Mobility.

Among The Authorities It Is Generally Agreed That The Earth Is At Rest In The Middle Of The Universe, And They Regard It As Inconceivable And Even Ridiculous To Hold The Opposite Opinion. However, If We Consider It More Closely The Question Will Be Seen To Be Still Unsettled, And So Decidedly Not To Be Despised. For Every Apparent Change In Respect Of Position Is Due To Motion Of The Object Observed, Or Of The Observer, Or Indeed To An Unequal Change Of Both.

Hence I Feel No Shame In Asserting That This Whole Region Engirdled By The Moon, And The Center Of The Earth, Traverse This Grand Circle Amid The Rest Of The Planets In An Annual Revolution Around The Sun. Near The Sun Is The Center Of The Universe. Moreover, Since The Sun Remains Stationary, Whatever Appears As A Motion Of The Sun Is Really Due Rather To The Motion Of The Earth.

More Stars In The North Are Seen Not To Set, While In The South Certain Stars Are No Longer Seen To Rise.

The Two Revolutions, I Mean The Annual Revolutions Of The Declination And Of The Centre Of The Earth, Are Not Completely Equal; That Is The Return Of The Declination To Its Original Value Is Slightly Ahead Of The Period Of The Centre. Hence It Necessarily Follows That The Equinoxes And Solstices Seem To Anticipate Their Timing, Not Because The Sphere Of The Fixed Stars Moves To The East, But Rather The Equatorial Circle Moves To The West, Being At An Angle To The Plane Of The Ecliptic In Proportion To The Declination Of The Axis Of The Terrestrial Globe.