Although Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model to

One can eliminate C because of the use of 'he'. Is 'he' referring to Copernicus or Aristarchus?

"he" after comma creates confusion whom it is pointing to. It should point to Copernicus so to avoid confusion we should use the name instead.
Lesson learned: Idiom -> credited with

A/B/C: Pronoun reference
D: CORRECT, idiom credited with
E: wrong use of idiom

credited with – credit person with accomplishment (use this when person comes first)
e.g. Newton is credited with the discovery of gravity

credited to - credit accomplishment to person
e.g The team credits its success to good fortune

Although Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model to describe the apparent motion of celestial objects almost a thousand years after Aristarchus, he is still credited to have been its originator.

A.he is still credited to have been its originator
B.they are still credited to have been its originator
C.he is still credited with the origination of that model
D.Copernicus is still credited with its origination
E.Copernicus is still credited to have been its originator

My gut feeling is that there is some disconnect with the semantics of the OA, especially with reg. to the pronoun 'He' as we can see below. Let's replace 'he' with Aristarchus

Although Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model to describe the apparent motion of celestial objects almost a thousand years after Aristarchus, Aristarchus is still credited to have been its originator.
Does this sentence make any logic, after using the contrast marker 'although'? I doubt whether there can be any hesitation about the reference of 'he' and it must clearly point to Copernicus.

Equally important, is the difference between the meaning of the word the origination and the originator. An originator is a person who takes the original or the first step. Therefore, Copernicus is more apt to be described as the originator in the context. On the contrary, origination means the beginning. Neither Copernicus nor Aristarchus can be called as the person responsible for the cosmic phenomenon's beginnings.

The OA D has shortcomings IMO.

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