Theory The Solar System of MLP: Ptolemaic or Copernican?

[Batbrony 16,056]

 

So out of the blue an interesting thought came to me just this afternoon: what is the astronomical model of the solar system in the MLP universe?   After a few minutes of thought, I came to the conclusion that, given the fact that both the moon and, more importantly, the sun, are raised by Luna and Celestia, respectively, Equestria must be a part of a geocentrically (more commonly known as Ptolemaic) modeled solar system, at the orbital center of all the celestial bodies in its respective solar system, including the sun and the moon.  Given that we know that Celestia physically controls the sun and Luna physically controls the moon in their orbits, a Ptolemaic system seems to me to make far more sense than a heliocentric (more commonly known as Copernican) model in which the sun is at the center of the Equestrian solar system.

 

Of course, I may be wrong, but this seems to me to be a very reasonable theory; still, I want to know, what do you guys think?  Do you agree that Equestria lies at the center of a Ptolemaic solar system?  Or do you think it more likely that it's a part of a Copernican solar system?  Please share your thoughts below; I'm very interested to see what other bronies and pegasisters think about this! 

 

Edited September 12, 2013 by Batbrony

[silverreverb 129]

well the bit of lore that they give certainly paints it as geocentric. though we believed the same about ours and proven wrong.

 

I think the big difference is that the only ones doing the math on the paths of the sun and moon are celestia and luna and they might not be willing to say which model is correct

 

it could also be that that the solar system is heliocentric but the planet they are on is tidally locked with the sun and needs some help to rotate properly

Edited September 13, 2013 by silverreverb

[Planty 1,053]

I think your right !

 

There are still stars, but they are raised by Luna with the moon? 

 

However, this theory presumes that that are raising the Sun/Moon and not in fact turning the earth (I would need to look at more evidence from episodes) however from what I remember the sun doesn't just stay in one place in the sky?

 

If It didn't then I would say they are rotating the earth throughout the day and night constantly, if not then they are raising the sun/moon.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I think that their solar system is Ptolemaic because, my theory is that since both the Sun and Moon are controlled by Luna and Celestia it would sound more fitting to have more than just 1 symbol of their cutie mark to only be in the center.

[Forlong 1,726]

 

The term "raised the Sun" does not mean that the Sun orbits the Earth.  Even though we understand the nature of our solar system, we still call it a "Sun rise".  The terminology could come from the former (and understandable) belief that the Sun orbits around the Earth.

 

Also, it would theoretically be easier to rotate the Earth than to move the Sun.

Edited September 13, 2013 by Forlong

[Dark Horn 430]

I have thought about this before, and I came to the same conclusion you did. Heh, heh, we bronies overthink things like no one else.

[FernStorm 1]

With all the stargazing Celestia does, she'd probably know. Personally i think its Geocentric due to the pricesses being able to move two celestial bodies. Other than that only time will tell i guess.

[Fhaolan 4,484]

There are other options.

 

1) No other astronomical bodies have been mentioned in show so far, so it's possible this is a three-body system, all three in motion with no effective 'orbits'.

 

2) The real sun is a distant and extremely dim stellar body. The 'Sun' as seen in-show may be actually be a small artificial stellar body in orbit around the world put in place as part of the same terraforming project that leads to the ponies needing to manually manipulate the weather ('natural' weather is considered dangerous to ponies), and only being able to eat food specially grown by ponies (only earth ponies can grow food, 'natural' plants are inedible. Native lifeforms actually eat silica (Dragons, Diamond Dogs, Basilisks, etc.))

 

[Descant 1,898]

The lore points at Ptolemaic, but there's really no proving it without more information. I mean, even though they say Celestia raises the sun, it would be theoretically easier to rotate the earth, and therefore it would be a Copernican model.

I'm inclined to think Ptolemaic, though. If Celestia rotated the Earth instead of raising the sun, then Luna would technically be the more powerful of the two, because it would undoubtedly be harder to raise the moon than to spin the Earth.

Unless Luna's in on it too.

And again, considering ponies control almost every other aspect of the weather... It makes sense to be Ptolemaic.

Edited September 13, 2013 by Descant

[Batbrony 16,056]

 

The term "raised the Sun" does not mean that the Sun orbits the Earth.  Even though we understand the nature of our solar system, we still call it a "Sun rise".  The terminology could come from the former (and understandable) belief that the Sun orbits around the Earth.

 

Also, it would theoretically be easier to rotate the Earth than to move the Sun.

 

Oh I know that "raise" the sun does not necessarily point alone to the sun orbiting the Equestrian world, but I was taking that along with the fact that the Equestrian lore, from what we know at least, suggests that Celestia actually controls the sun and Luna actually controls the moon.  While we know that Celestia can also control the moon if need be, we have never received confirmation that Luna could ever control the sun if the situation required it, so I'm inclined to believe that they don't just rotate their world in some manner, but actually control those respective celestial bodies.  But yes, trust me, I know that the phrase "raise the sun" doesn't necessarily mean that literally.  After all, I do know that our own solar system is Copernican and we still say that! 

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

Wowv this is kind of hard to explain and understand.

 

Since Celestia and Luna have direct control over Celestial bodies it would make no difference in which

the Earth actually lies.(Is Earth even Equestria in the first place?)

 

Earth could still orbit around as ours does but the Sun has an odd orbit path due to Celestia's interference with the Sun's orbit.

[Fluttershutter 2,581]

I think heliocentric and geocentric are the more common terms. I've never even heard ptolemaic before.

 

Anyway after season 1 I made up a big sci-fi theory that involved Celestia and Luna controling huge fusion reactors that orbitted the planet. Season 2 killed my theory but I still lean toward it being geocentric.

[Foreigner And Lover 207]

At first the show does make you think that the geocentric model is correct, but after thinking about it for a while it doesn't make a huge amount of sense. The main example I'm thinking of is in the comic, when that comet increased the power of magic. It doesn't really make sense that Luna would have the power to control magical comets, making me think the world is heliocentric.

 

Also, the Copernican model isn't the same as the heliocentric model. The Copernican model is incorrect because in his model Copernicus stated that the planets' orbits were circular as opposed to elliptical. And the Ptolemaic model is definitely not the same as the (standard) geocentric model, since he thought the planets revolved around the earth in crazy loopy shapes.

Edited September 14, 2013 by Foreigner And Lover

[GuerrierCosmique 146]

A Ptolemaic system is the best explaination, other fantasy worlds/star systems (for example, Tolkien's Arda from Lord of the Rings) are set in such too. Say, the inhabited world in the middle, it's star and moons circling around, along other planets.

 

A heliocentric system is still possible if Celestia and Luna just control the planet's rotation or artificial celestial (lol) bodies dubbed "sun" and "moon".

 

Besides, from the comic we know that the planet of Equestria (Equus or Equis^^) is a sphere, before it I assumed it can be a disc.

Edited September 29, 2013 by Space Warrior

[The Neckbearded 11]

 

I won't spoil anything for those who haven't seen the Season 4 animatics that they released at a brony convention a while ago, so if you don't want that spoiled, then please skip over this message!

 

From what we've see in the season 4 animatics, we have demonstrable proof that the solar system is NOT heliocentric, because

[Nightmare Moon raises the moon to blot out the sun!] If they were merely rotating the earth, this would not make logical sense.

 

But given the nature of MLP, and how greek-inspired it seems, I'd say it's almost definitely a Geocentric solar system. That's using meta-narrative to answer, so it's kind of cheating, but still, it may be good evidence. 

 

Also, I believe the comics are canon, and if that is true then this only furthers my claims because [the moon is portrayed as a lot smaller than our moon, yet it is still very large in the sky.]

Edited October 3, 2013 by The Neckbearded