Viewed from the top, this 18th century device designed by James Ferguson, is an amazingly complex clock. Viewed from the side, its role as an orrery becomes apparent. It is the zenith of the view of the world as a complex clockwork mechanism.

An 8 ft tall planetary display with an Orrery on top. It depicts the six planets visible with the un-aided human eye (Mercury through Saturn). The lower six layers are a mechanical calculator made of toughened alloy, each layer controls the movement of one of the six planets, calculating their orbits to 28 bits of accuracy.

Ten years in the making, legendary watch maker, Richard Mille turned watchmaking skills to produce a 21st century version of the centuries old planetarium.

Between 1774 and 1781 Eise Eisinga built a solar system model into his living room ceiling in Friesland, Holland.

A magnificently elegant example of an early 19th century orrery which shows the recently discovered Uranus.

This is not strictly a planetarium, being a central globe and revolving moon and star map. Its a very nice object that is available to purchase for $500.

One of the projects for the recent renovations of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, London, was a complete restoration of the 18th century Orrery.

This grand orrery displays the Sun in the centre, and the 6 planets known at the time with their moons. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto had not yet been discovered when this orrery was made. Because it is calibrated for the Julian calendar, G which was abandoned in favour of the Gregorian calendar G system in 1752, the assumption is that it was manufactured before that date.

It was made by the renowned instrument maker George Adams, XR who supplied instruments to King George III.

This is a hand cranked Tellurium from 1865 shows the motion of the earth and accurate measure of days and seasons.

A very nice, simple and elegant Tellurium, form the 50s, where the sun is represented by an illuminated light.

A very nice Meccano (the English equivalent of an erector set) orrery made by Alan McDonald, a member of the Scottish Meccano society.

this site allows you to purchase plans to build your own planetarium or Saturn Orrery.<p /><p />The Saturn Orrery shows the 5 largest moons of Saturn as well as the planet itself (rotating) and a representation of the rings. The period of the rings&#039; revolutions varies not only from ring to ring but also within rings, the tiny particles within the rings behaving as mini moonlets with outer particles having a longer revolutionary period.

An English, portable Orrery from the early 19th century.

A picture by Ben Cooper showing an orrery of Uranus and its moons built by John Fulton in 1833, based on the designs of James Ferguson

This planetarium uses a 3 inch terrestrial globe by Rand McNally from 1895. It is worth checking out the other globes and planetaria on this site, since some of them are amazing.

1794 Hand-cranked orrery, showing movements of Mercury, Venus, and Earth around the Sun, and the Moon around the Earth.

As part of the Kepler mission to find extraterrestrial habitable planets, the mission team made this Lego orrary to demonstrate the transit method.

With this portable planetarium you can determine the planets&#039; positions in the solar system at any time from 1970 to 2049.Planetica can be used in both hemispheres and is set to the solar time at the place of use. It is available to purchase for $50