Editing Inferior and superior planets (section)

== History ==
These terms were originally used in the [[geocentric]] [[cosmology]] of [[Claudius Ptolemy]] to differentiate as inferior those planets ([[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] and [[Venus]]) whose [[epicycle]] remained co-linear with the Earth and Sun, and as superior those planets ([[Mars]], [[Jupiter]], and [[Saturn]]) that did not.<ref>{{cite book
 |author1=Lakatos, Imre |author2=Worrall, John |author3=Currie, Gregory |editor1=Worrall, John |editor2=Currie, Gregory | date=1980
 | title=The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes
 | page=186 | publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
 | isbn=0-521-28031-1 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dobrijevic |first=Daisy |date=2021-12-17 |title=Geocentric model: The Earth-centered view of the universe |url=https://www.space.com/geocentric-model |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=Space |language=en}}</ref>

In the 16th century, the terms were modified by [[Nicolaus Copernicus|Copernicus]], who rejected Ptolemy's geocentric model, to distinguish a [[planet]]'s [[orbit]]'s size in relation to the [[Earth]]'s.<ref>{{cite book | first=Thomas S. | last=Kuhn | date=1985 | page=[https://archive.org/details/copernicanrevolu0000kuhn/page/172 172] | title=The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought | edition=4th | publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] | isbn=0-674-17103-9 | url=https://archive.org/details/copernicanrevolu0000kuhn/page/172 }}</ref>