Science Art: “De Motib. Stellae Martis” from Astronomia Nova aitiologetos, by Johannes Kepler, 1609.

from : https://archive.org/stream/astronomianovaai00kepl#page/4/mode/2up Click to embiggen

This is a diagram of how Mars appeared in the sky, as observed by Johannes Kepler (and his boss, Tycho Brahe). The question Kepler ultimately answered was why did a planet moving in what should be a perfect circle (’cause God don’t make no imperfections) have these weird moments where it seemed to go backwards. Kepler’s answer: they moved perfectly, but not in a circle. They moved in an ellipse, which was a holier shape because instead of having one center, it had two foci, which left room at one focus for the Holy Spirit.

May all our science and religion get along so well.

Happy Easter.

This diagram was published in Kepler’s Astronomia Nova, which I found on archive.org.