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Primary sourceArtifact1543

Copernicus's Diagram of the Planetary System

Nicolaus Copernicus · 1543

The woodcut diagram from Copernicus's 1543 book showing the Sun at the centre of the planetary orbits, the most famous image of his theory.

This diagram, drawn for his own book, is the clearest visual summary of Copernicus's heliocentric idea.

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Scanned page from a 1543 printed book titled Nicolai Copernici, showing a diagram of concentric circles with the Sun at the center, labeled planetary orbits including Mercury, Venus, Earth (terra) with the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the outer sphere of fixed stars. Latin text surrounds the diagram.
Nicolaus Copernicus, planetary system diagram, from De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, Nuremberg, 1543.

About this source

What it is

This is a printed woodcut diagram from Book I of Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, published in Nuremberg in 1543. It shows the Sun at the centre with the planets, including Earth and its Moon, arranged in circular orbits around it, surrounded by the sphere of fixed stars.

Why it matters

This single image became the visual shorthand for Copernicus's whole theory and is still the picture most people imagine when they think of the heliocentric model. It visually overturned the older idea, inherited from Ptolemy, that the Earth stood still at the centre of the universe.

Look closer

  • What is placed at the centre of the diagram, and what does that choice signal?
  • Why might a simple diagram like this have been more persuasive to readers than pages of calculations?
  • What is missing from this diagram that a modern model of the solar system would include?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Nicolaus Copernicus on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, printed 1543 in Nuremberg by Johann Petreius. Large capitals read NICOLAI COPERNICI TORINENSIS, followed by the book title and an address to the reader in Latin. Handwritten ink marks read Bibliotheca and Univers, and a Greek motto appears below the text.Book

Primary source

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

Nicolaus Copernicus · 1543

Engraved portrait print of Nicolaus Copernicus in an octagonal frame with stippled background. A man with wavy shoulder-length hair wears a fur-trimmed garment and holds a small armillary-style sphere. Caption reads NICOLAUS COPERNICUS, with publisher line Zwickau, bei Gebr. Schumann below.Painting

Secondary source

Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (Schumann print)

Gebrüder Schumann

Engraved oval portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus, a man with wavy shoulder-length hair and a fur-collared garment, inside a decorative border with Latin inscriptions and dates, on a book page photographed on a dark background with a gray scale.Painting

Secondary source

Engraved Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (Herzog August Library)

Unbekannt

Engraved portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus in an oval frame, shown on a book page with a page number 52 in the corner. The man has curly hair and wears a fur-trimmed garment. Latin inscription 'NICOLAUS COPERNICUS' appears at the bottom, with a verse text block below and a catalogue number beneath the page.Painting

Secondary source

Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus (Albertina Museum)

Handwritten manuscript page on aged paper, titled 'Nicolai Copernici de hypothesibus motuum coelestium a se constitutis commentariolus', with a decorated initial M and several lines of Latin script in brown ink. Page number 34 appears at top right.Document

Primary source

Commentariolus

Nicolaus Copernicus · by 1514

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