Orrery
Orrery
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- Description
- This unsigned instrument closely resembles the orrery that Edward S. Ritchie offered in 1860. It is a simple crank-operated model showing the relative positions of the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Moon, Mars and its two moons, Jupiter (missing) and its moons, Saturn with rings and several moons, and Uranus. The stand is wood. The arms holding the planets are brass.
- Ref: Ritchie’s Illustrated Catalogue of Philosophical Instruments, and School Apparatus (Boston, 1860), p. 75.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- orrery
- Physical Description
- wood (overall material)
- brass (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 28 1/2 in x 21 in; 72.39 cm x 53.34 cm
- overall: 27 1/2 in x 25 3/4 in x 9 7/8 in; 69.85 cm x 65.405 cm x 25.0825 cm
- ID Number
- PH.322462
- accession number
- 250508
- catalog number
- 322462
- subject
- Astronomy
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
- Measuring & Mapping
- Globes
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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