In the beginning of the seventeenth century, another astrologer-monk, Johannes Kepler, refined Copernicus’s theory, making it even more accurate than the Ptolemaic system. Instead of moving in circles, the planets, including Earth, moved in ellipses around the sun. This explained the motion of the planets in the heavens with incredible accuracy; no longer could astronomers object that the heliocentric system was inferior to the geocentric one. Kepler’s model was simpler than Ptolemy’s, and it was more accurate. Despite the church’s objections, Kepler’s heliocentric system would prevail
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