D7747_2

Orrery Long Caption: A portable orrery with tellurium and planetarium attachments. The baseboard is finely engraved with calendar and zodiac scales and a variety of astronomical information. Among other things, it shows tiny images of the planet Saturn and the position of its rings as observed from the Earth in different years. It also gives a table of information about the planets for the year 1794. The tellurium represents the motions of the Moon round the Earth, and the Earth, Mercury and Venus around the Sun, and consists of geared wheels and brackets, a brass Sun, Earth with engraved paper gores, and ivory Moon, Mercury and Venus. A brass plate below the model of the Earth carried paper printed with the phases of the Moon. The sphere bears a simple outline of the continents and the names of five oceans. The equator is graduated twice, for degrees and for hours, there is a degree scale around the great circle corresponding with the meridian or London or Greenwich and the ecliptic is marked with symbols of the zodiac constellations. Credit line: © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London Object: AST1062 Artist: William Jones; Samuel Jones; Bardin Date: 1794 Medium: ivory; brass; wood; paper; plaster; copper plate engraved; varnish Size: Overall: 150 mm x 317 mm Click here to buy a bespoke print of this image.