Celestial Sphere

Beautiful meldings of art and science, mechanical models of the Solar System, called orreries, were used in the 18th century to demonstrate the motions of the planets. The fact that the Earth and the other planets orbited the Sun was not commonly accepted until Nicolaus Copernicus published his mathematical description in 1543.

Background celestial map adapted from David Rumsey Historical Map Collection: Mapping the Heavens in 1693.