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Of course, only heliocentric model can explain this. But, was this Copernicus himself or Galilei?

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    $\begingroup$ Please defend your premise that "only heliocentric model can explain this." A geocentric model has a good explanation--the sun moves in the ecliptic, and when it gets close to a constellation the constellation cannot be seen over the sun's glare. Geocentric models have their difficulties but your question is not one of them. What exactly do you mean by "correctly first explained" (emphasis added)? $\endgroup$
    – Rory Daulton
    Oct 20, 2018 at 12:18

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Your statement about heliocentric model is wrong. Everything we see in the sky with a naked eye is perfectly explained by geocentric model as well. The reason why we see different constellations in different seasons, is that the Sun does not occupy a fixed position with respect to the stars, and moves along the ecliptic making one turn per year. All the earliest writers on astronomy that we know already knew this. Without this knowledge one cannot make a reasonable calendar. As the calendar is indispensable to those who do agriculture, there is no doubt that his was discovered at the time when people started agriculture, that is in pre-historic period.

Of course, there can be different meanings of the word "explain". One can ask "why the Sun moves as it does"? This was "explained" by the Law of Universal gravity (proved by Newton). But why to stop here, one can also ask "why the Law of gravity" is as it is? And so on.

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  • $\begingroup$ @YoungsubYoon: On this site, show your appreciation by upvoting all the useful answers. You do that by clicking the up-arrow at the top-left of the answer, if you have enough reputation to do so. In addition, accept the best answer (if it actually answers your question) by clicking the checkmark near the top-left of the answer. That is better than saying thanks in a comment. It also helps others to see that your question was answered. $\endgroup$
    – Rory Daulton
    Oct 21, 2018 at 0:31

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