"An orrery is a mechanical device designed to demonstrate the rotation and orbital motion of the earth, and the orbital motion of the moon and the planets. The device was given the name orrery by its inventor, John Rowley, as a gesture of gratitude to the nobleman who employed himCharles Boyle, the fourth Earl of Orrery (16761731)."
For a picture of an orrery:
http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/apow/ap2003.04.07.shtml
Oh, that photograph is beautiful, wwh! I wonder that such devices aren't found easily in shops today?
The craftsmen who made such delicate structures just can't earn enough to make it worth doing. Except for the rara avis belonging to the Smithsonian or similar museums.
Well, it would be nice to have an orrery here to show exactly where the planets should be since I have such a poor sense of direction, but even the one listed on ebay at $350 sounds like it isn't completely accurate, even with only seven planets.
Thanks for providing the link, sjmax...
I had been looking for a picture of the orrery in Jim Henson's the Dark Crystal, but was unsuccessful. it was a beauty, destroyed by the nasty Garthim, minions of the Skeksis...
It really is a terrifically lovely word for a terrifically lovely mathematical creation! I would love to set one up in my bedroom, if I could find one for under 400 dollars, that was pretty accurate even if accurate only up through Jupiter...
One of the best things that has happened over Christmas break has been seeing Orion, whom I take for granted, up over to the left of the house--Orion's making a huge claim to a wide expanse of sky in which the farmhouse and grove seem very, very small by comparison. Oh, dark skies! With wide expanse of lights! Tremendously over us! It is a glorious thing to perceive one's minuteness! And I have no eartly idea why this should be so. You'd think it would strike a being as something quite the opposite.
For what it's worth, the Science Museum shop in South Ken used (may be still does) sell cardboard and plastic orreries at very reasonable rates. I know because one of my acts as a suitor to a lady (some years ago now) was to help her buy the thing and set it up. I don't know why she wanted one. Perhaps to observe a syzygy?