German astronomer who first stated laws of planetary motion (1571-1630)

A German scientist (1571-1630) who used Tycho Brahe's observations of planetary motions to devise three empirical laws now known as Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion.

Johann Kepler, born in Weil, Wurtemburg, Germany on December 27, 1571 was a famous astrologer who became the father of modern astronomy.

This is an area found on Mars. It is named after the 17th century astronomer, Johannes Kepler. He was the first to discover that Mars orbits the Sun in an ellipse (oval) instead of a circle.

Johannes Kepler was born on Dec 27th 1571. At university, he was so inspired by Copernicus' theory of the Solar System that he chose to devote his life's work to astronomy. He devised a theory of his own of regular solids alternating with spheres, to describe how the planets moved. Based on the observations of Tycho Brahe in particular, he realised that his theory was flawed since it could not be used to accurately predict the positions of the planets. During the 10 years between 1609 and 1619, he formulated his three Laws of planetary motion. He even attempted to explain how the planets might move. He imagined some sort of force radiating from the Sun in the same way that the spokes of a wheel radiate from the hub. These "force spokes" pushed the planets round. Newton's theory of gravity led to the correct solution that the planets orbit the Sun because they are moving forwards at high speed and at the same time, being pulled in towards the Sun by its gravitation.