An orrery is a mechanical model of the Solar System that illustrates or predicts the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons, usually according to the heliocentric model. It may also r
A small orrery showing Earth and the inner planets
Carlo G Croce, reconstruction of Dondi's Astrarium, originally built between 1348 and 1364 in Padua
Astronomical clock (Venus-Mercury side) by Eberhard Baldewein, 1563–1568. Exhibit in the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon of Dresden, Germany.
The Orrery inside the Sphaera Copernicana, designed by Joseph of Gottorp and built by Andreas Bösch, 1653
The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient Greek hand-powered orrery built in the 2nd century BC and discovered in 1901. It is the oldest known example of an analogue computer. It could be used to predic
Orrery
…a planet at the end of each of a series of arms. Discovered in 1901 in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera in the Mediterranean Sea, the Antikythera mechanism has been reconstructed as exhibiting the diurnal motions of the Sun, Moon, and the five planets known to the ancient Greeks. The geocentric mechanism…
Derek J. de Solla Price (1922–1983) with a model of the Antikythera mechanism
Computer-generated front panel of the Freeth model
Front panel of a 2007 re-creation
Computer-generated back panel