Copernican principle

Unsolved problem in physics:

Are cosmological observations made from Earth representative of observations from the average position in the universe?

Figure 'M' (for Latin *Mundus*) from Johannes Kepler's 1617–1621 *Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae*, showing the Earth as belonging to just one of any number of similar stars

In physical cosmology, the Copernican principle states that humans, on the Earth or in the Solar System, are not privileged observers of the universe,^[1] that observations from the Earth are representative of observations from the average position in the universe. Named for Copernican heliocentrism, it is a working assumption that arises from a modified cosmological extension of Copernicus' argument of a moving Earth.^[2]

^ Peacock, John A. (1998). Cosmological Physics. Cambridge University Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-521-42270-3.
^ Bondi, Hermann (1952). Cosmology. Cambridge University Press. p. 13.

[1] Peacock, John A. (1998). Cosmological Physics. Cambridge University Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-521-42270-3.

[2] Bondi, Hermann (1952). Cosmology. Cambridge University Press. p. 13.

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