Johann Kepler, astronomer and mystic, thought that he had discovered God’s geometric plan of the solar system. Within the accuracy possible at that time, he found that the radii of the orbits of the known six planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter) were related by the same proportions that you get when you fit the five Platonic polyhedra into another so that the outer containing sphere of one polyhedron is equal to the inner sphere of the next one, the spheres representing the planet orbits.. He published his theory under the name “Mysterium Cosmographicum” (cosmographic mystery), first in 1596 and again in 1621.
The geometric relation is coincidence, but it satisfied Kepler so much that he did not give up this theory even when he himself found the geometric laws of the planet motions that disproved his geometric “Mysterium”.
The Sketchup model shows the “Mysterium” in a rendering similar to the drawings of Kepler. Actual physical models were of it only built long after Kepler’s death.
You can see the model in a lecture on "The geometry of the planets" by James Sheil: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeI-I3nc9Og #astronomie #astronomy #kepler #mysticism #mystik #platonic #platonische_körper #polyhedra
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