From: martinharran@gmail.com   
      
   On Mon, 23 Feb 2026 16:21:43 +0000, Ernest Major   
   <{$to$}@meden.demon.co.uk> wrote:   
      
   >On 23/02/2026 15:00, John Harshman wrote:   
   >>   
   >> Now, I would say that there are many bits of evidence that, to an   
   >> unbiased observer, would suggest heliocentrism even in the absence of   
   >> Kepler's model. There's the fact that Mercury and Venus never get far   
   >> from the sun, the observation that elsewhere in the solar system, the   
   >> smaller body goes around the larger, as with earth's and Jupiter's   
   >> moons, the observation that the fixed stars resemble faraway suns, and   
   >> that their diurnal "motion" seems quite different from the annual and   
   >> longer patterns of the sun and planets, etc. Even in the absence of   
   >> Newton and a theory of how gravity operates, the conclusion seems fairly   
   >> clear.   
   >   
   >Add the phases of Mercury and Venus to the list.   
      
   Pity about those goddam circles all the same.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)