Orrery

Orrery

An orrery is a mechanical device that illustrates the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the Solar System in a heliocentric model. Though the Greeks had working planetaria, the first orrery that was a planetarium of the modern era was produced in 1704, and one was presented to the Earl of Orrery — whence came the name. They are typically driven by a clockwork mechanism with a globe representing the Sun at the centre, and with a planet at the end of each of the arms.

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Famous quotes containing the word orrery:

    Word of gloom from the war, one day;
    Johnston pressed at the front, they say.
    Little Giffen was up and away;
    A tear—his first—as he bade good-by,
    Dimmed the glint of his steel-blue eye.
    “I’ll write, if spared!” There was news of the fight;
    But none of Giffen.—He did not write.
    —Francis Orrery Ticknor (1822–1874)