Overview:
Nicolaus Copernicus is broadly viewed as the dad of current stargazing.
This model put the Earth at the focal point of the universe, with any remaining heavenly bodies spinning around it. This view had ruled Western idea for north of a thousand years.
Copernicus' momentous work, "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" ("On the Transformations of the Brilliant Circles"), distributed in 1543, tested this longstanding geocentric model.
Hence, Nicolaus Copernicus is legitimately respected as the father of modern astronomy.
