Orrery
An orrery is a mechanical model of the Solar System. It shows the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons. It is usually a heliocentric model.[1]
The Greeks had working planetaria. The first orrery that was a planetarium of the modern era was produced in 1704.[2] One was presented to Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery – hence the name. They are usually driven by a clockwork mechanism. The globe in the centre represents the Sun, and a planet is at the end of each arm.
The first known orrery was the Antikythera mechanism, variously dated from 60 to 150 BC.
Orrery Media
Antikythera mechanism, main fragment, ca. 205 to 87 BC
Carlo G Croce, reconstruction of Dondi's Astrarium, originally built between 1348 and 1364 in Padua
Astronomical clock (Venus-Mercury side), Eberhard Baldewein et al., Marburg-Kassel, 1563–1568 - Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, Dresden - DSC08057
The Orrery inside the Sphaera Copernicana, designed by Joseph of Gottorp and build by Andreas Bösch, 1653
A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery (ca. 1766) by Joseph Wright of Derby
The orrery built by wool carder Eise Eisinga from 1774 to 1781 in his living room, the oldest functioning planetarium in the world
A 1766 Benjamin Martin Orrery, used at Harvard
Orrery (Vatican Museums).
Portrait of Wilhelm Schickard (1592–1635) holding a "hand planetarium" (orrery) of his own invention
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References
- ↑ King, Henry C. & Millburn, John R. 1978. Geared to the stars : the evolution of planetariums, orreries, and astronomical clocks. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 28–41. ISBN 0-8020-2312-6
- ↑ Calvert, H.R. 1967. Astronomy: globes, orreries and other models. London: H.M.S.O.