Vicarious Hypothesis (original) (raw)

The Vicarious Hypothesis, or hypothesis vicaria, was a planetary hypothesis proposed by Johannes Kepler to describe the motion of Mars. The hypothesis adopted the circular orbit and equant of Ptolemy's planetary model as well as the heliocentrism of the Copernican model. Calculations using the Vicarious Hypothesis did not support a circular orbit for Mars, leading Kepler to propose elliptical orbits as one of three laws of planetary motion in Astronomia Nova.