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LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicensePtolemaic armillary sphere. Cropped detail view for gallery use
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Ptolemaic armillary sphere
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Ptolemaic armillary sphere. Detail view, graduated background.
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Ptolemaic armillary sphere
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Ptolemaic armillary sphere. Detail view, black background.
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Ptolemaic armillary sphere. Detail view, black background.
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Armillary sphere on brass twined stand 6 1/2 in diameter at base brass diameter of meridian 9 1/4 inches outside German 16th century
This model depicts Ptolemy’s Earth-centred cosmos. The bands illustrate the motion of the Sun, Moon and stars. Armillary spheres were used in medieval times to teach priests how to calculate the hours of prayer at sunrise and sunset.
Portraits of noblemen often included an armillary sphere to suggest wisdom and learning. More recently, novelist Umberto Eco chose the armillary sphere as a gruesome murder weapon in his 1983 book The Name of the Rose.
Details
- Category:
- Astronomy
- Object Number:
- 1880-47
- Materials:
- complete, bras and brass (copper, zinc alloy)
- Measurements:
-
overall: 450 mm 300 mm, 2.9 kg
- type:
- armillary sphere
- credit:
- Purchased
