Aryabhata - the master astronomer

Long before Newton, Aryabhata propounded the Heliocentric Theory of Gravitation, that all planets circle the Sun due to celestial gravity !

( Sooryaha Jagata Chakshu Gurutvakarshan ).

He postulated that planets move faster at Sheegrocha ( perihelion ) & slower at Mandocha ( Aphelion ) and that they traverse in elliptical orbits. The path of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun as the focus of that ellipse. He was the first astronomer to calculate the celestial longitudes of planets ( Aryabhato Graha Ganitham ). He wrote treatises on Astronomy & Maths and his Aryabhateeya is a master treatise on these subjects.

He laid the base for Astronomia Vedica ( Vedic Astronomy ). He gave the trignometric method of calculating planetary longitudes. He called it the Threefold Longitudinal Correction. The first method is reducing longitudes to Aphelion ( Manda Kriya ), second is reducing it to Ecliptic ( Parinathi Kriya ) & the third is reducing the longitude to Perihelion ( Sheegra Kriya ). Once the mean longitude of the planet ( Graha Madhyamam ) is corrected thrice trignometrically, we get the true longitude of the planet ( Graha Sphutam ).