Sendtner Orrery

Description

An orrery is a mechanical 3-D map or model of our Solar System. This glass globe represents the celestial sphere, showing the brighter stars and constellations, while the interior shows the motion of the planets and their moons through the use of gears. Though the sizes of the planets and their satellites and the distances between them are not to scale, they rotate in proportion to the planets they represent.

Object Information

Date Created:

ca. 1912

Local ID:

FI Catalog # 1589

Collection:

Atronomy Collection

Credit Line:

Purchased by The Franklin Institute in 1931

Count:

1

Citation:

Sendtner Orrery (FI Catalog # 1589) from the collections of The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA. USA

Dimensions:

230cm high x 151cm long x 151cm deep

Creator(s):

Michael Sendtner

Materials:

Metal, Glass

Classification:

T&E For Science & Technology, Astronomical T&E 

Rights:

Fair Use for educational purposes

Appears In

Resource Kit
The Franklin Institute

Treading Among the Stars: How We’ve Found Our Way

Long before there were advanced technologies available for studying the sky, people devised ways of depicting the sun, moon, planets, and stars in relation to the Earth to figure out how our planet fit into the vast universe. Our method of exploring the night sky has grown to now include actual trips into space, even visiting another celestial body in person. But before technology made direct exploration possible, we had to use remote methods to map the expanse we could see from Earth.

Created by: The Franklin Institute

Grade 3-8