MAKE blog regular Guy Himber built this orrery for an online Lego competition… so sweet.
I always wanted to build something like this ever since I saw a giant fantasy orrery in the movie Dark Crystal. As it has been on my builder’s ‘wish list’ for a while I figured the Iron Builder Competition was a perfect time to try one out!
I made it with the Sun off-centered ( vs. center ) to make it more dynamic to view. The cycles and planets and moons are all fantasy based ( so go cry to your Mom if you don’t like how Mars has a Moon or Venus looks like Jupiter )











That’s beautiful.
Eise Eisinga build one in 1774 in the ceiling of his house. See http://www.planetarium-friesland.nl/engels.html He build it to proof that a preacher predicting the end of the world was wrong. On the dutch site http://www.planetarium-friesland.nl/ you can see a picture by clicking on the link “planetarium” (on the right site)
He used about 10000 handforged nails and a lot of oak wood.
Thank god they invented lego.
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