orrery

[prettygoodword]

orrery (AWR-uh-ree, OR-uh-ree) - n., an apparatus moved by a clockwork showing the relative positions and motions of bodies in the solar system, represented by balls; any similar machine, as a planetarium.


Thanks, WikiMedia!

That one shows the planets Mercury through Saturn, with the major moons of Jupiter and Saturn but of the inner planets. Planetaria were made going back to the ancient Greeks, but this is specifically a self-moving one (with correct proportionate speeds). It was invented independently by English clockmaker George Graham (c.1710) and Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens (1703). A copy of Graham's model was made by instrument maker John Rowley for his patron Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery, after whom it came to be known in English. The earldom is named after a place in Ireland, from Gaelic Orbhraighe, literally Orbh-raighe, Orb's people, originally a tribe. (The current holder of the title, who is also Earl of Cork, is the 15th Earl.)

---L.

Comments

[dewline]

I remember Grant Morrison reminding me of this word through their work on Final Crisis back in 2007...

[prettygoodword]

They sometimes show up in the workshops of wizards, in a certain type of fantasy.

[full_metal_ox]

Along with the obligatory stuffed crocodile.

Also referenced in “Tainei Tokei Toshi Orrery” (“Internal Clock Municipal Orrery”), one of the baroque J-rock battle songs from the soundtrack of the classic anime Revolutionary Girl Utena. You’ll notice the heavily abstruse and metaphysical nature of the lyrics, and trust me—Utena was that kind of show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcug0GAQgW4

It’s also not often that a Gaelic word gets exalted into Western scientific vocabulary, which has historically tended to be informed by Greek, Latin, and Arabic.

[prettygoodword]

Hey, sometimes it's an alligator instead. And in one memorable instance, a fire-drake.

I remember that song, but not the title (I never paid attention to the song titles, just the emotions they were creating in a given scene). Good show. Been waiting for the kid to grow old enough to introduce them to it, and to Princess Tutu. (They're spending this week binging on Naruto.)

[dhampyresa]

So pretty! Love the word too.

[prettygoodword]

Yah.