Museo Galileo
italiano
previous
Virtual Museum
Section of Rooms III and IV
 Models of the Heavens

Since antiquity, astronomers have studied the movement of the stars, striving to reproduce the appearance of the heavens by means of suitable models. One of the oldest solutions to this problem is globes, in which the constellations are shown on the surface of a metal sphere engraved with the main celestial circles: the horizon, the meridian, the equator, the tropics, and the ecliptic. In armillary spheres, the relationships between these circles and the planetary movements are displayed through a combination of concentric rings revolving around the axis of the sphere.

Objects
Armillary sphere

Armillary sphere

Inv. 119
Maker unknown, 17th cent.

Armillary sphere

Armillary sphere

Inv. 1102
Maker unknown, 17th cent.

Armillary sphere

Armillary sphere

Inv. 3620
Maison Delamarche, Paris, 1858

Armillary sphere

Armillary sphere

Inv. 1104
Maker unknown, ca. 1575

Armillary sphere

Armillary sphere

Inv. 1101
Maker unknown, 17th cent.

Armillary sphere

Armillary sphere

Inv. 1117
Maker unknown, 17th cent.

Copernican sphere

Copernican sphere

Inv. 3263
Jean Pigeon [attr.], Paris?, ca. 1725