planet positions

I am looking for a three dimensional "clock"
for lack of a better term.
the deal I am seeking
should have all of the planets and a sun
all on some sort of supportive wire thingey
this gizmo could hang from the ceiling .
the planets would all complete the orbits in real time and in the
correct relative distances from each other
not on a single plane like those high school chain operated machines
the size of the actual planets do not have to be to exact scale
heck they could have the names written on the side.
has anybody seen something of this nature ?
the three pen light batterys should last at least a year

"Az Trekker" wrote in message
...
I am looking for a three dimensional "clock"
for lack of a better term.
the deal I am seeking
should have all of the planets and a sun
all on some sort of supportive wire thingey
this gizmo could hang from the ceiling .
the planets would all complete the orbits in real time and in the
correct relative distances from each other
not on a single plane like those high school chain operated machines
the size of the actual planets do not have to be to exact scale
heck they could have the names written on the side.
has anybody seen something of this nature ?
the three pen light batterys should last at least a year

There are a couple of teeny weeny challenges with your model. In order for
the planets to be a the correct relative distances from each other, even if
the sun was the size of a BB, then Neptune would be about 20 miles away.
That's a LOT of wire thingey. Not to mention one orbit for Neptune would
take 164 years. That's a LOT of penlight batteries.

"Az Trekker" wrote in message
...
I am looking for a three dimensional "clock"
for lack of a better term.
the deal I am seeking
should have all of the planets and a sun
all on some sort of supportive wire thingey
this gizmo could hang from the ceiling .
the planets would all complete the orbits in real time and in the
correct relative distances from each other
not on a single plane like those high school chain operated machines
the size of the actual planets do not have to be to exact scale
heck they could have the names written on the side.
has anybody seen something of this nature ?
the three pen light batterys should last at least a year

The original clockwork device you are talking about, is called an 'Orrery'.
Generally, it is not worth trying to incline the orbits, because of the
scale errors involved. For example, an Orrery that is four feet across, with
the correct orbital size relations for the inner planets, and with
reasonable sized spheres used for the planets themselves, will have these
perhaps 1000 times larger than the real sizes, and the Sun, perhaps 10000
times larger than it really is on this scale. The inclinations of the orbits
will generally be less that the oversize diameters of the spheres...
There are several companies, who make 'custom' motorised Orrery systems, and
some of the larger units do offer inclinations to the planes of the
planetary orbits (even smaller generally do for the Moon). Most of the
'powered' units, are mains driven, rather than battery, since it is
suprising how many gears are involved, and the power losses these generate.
You may well be pretty amazed at the prices. A 'kit' for a reasonable
clockwork Orrery, will probably be about $2000, while a custom large Orrery,
will be comparable in price to perhaps a Meade 16" scope...
One of the cheapest reasonable sized units, is at:
http://www.orreries.freeserve.co.uk/...nd_orrery.html
While the one designed by Martyn Bainbridge, at the London planetarium, is
perhaps close to what you are thinking about:
http://www.martynbainbridge.co.uk/orrery.html

Best Wishes

the amount of great info that is available here makes me ...happy
thanx roger
maybe I will just buy one of those
indoor, out door weather stations
I like Astronomy magazine a lot,
but I always have more questions
your help is appreciated

"Roger Hamlett" wrote in message
...

There are several companies, who make 'custom' motorised Orrery systems,
and
some of the larger units do offer inclinations to the planes of the
planetary orbits (even smaller generally do for the Moon). Most of the
'powered' units, are mains driven, rather than battery, since it is
suprising how many gears are involved, and the power losses these
generate.
You may well be pretty amazed at the prices. A 'kit' for a reasonable
clockwork Orrery, will probably be about $2000, while a custom large
Orrery,
will be comparable in price to perhaps a Meade 16" scope...
One of the cheapest reasonable sized units, is at:
http://www.orreries.freeserve.co.uk/...nd_orrery.html
While the one designed by Martyn Bainbridge, at the London planetarium, is
perhaps close to what you are thinking about:
http://www.martynbainbridge.co.uk/orrery.html

Remember, however, that while they are quite beautiful to look at, an Orrery
will not have what you originally asked for, which is the planets at their
correct relative distances from each other and moving in real time. They
will move in "relative time" to each other but they will be MUCH closer to
the sun and to each other than their true relative distances.

"Kilolani" wrote in message
ink.net...

There are a couple of teeny weeny challenges with your model. In order for
the planets to be a the correct relative distances from each other, even
if
the sun was the size of a BB, then Neptune would be about 20 miles away.
That's a LOT of wire thingey. Not to mention one orbit for Neptune would
take 164 years. That's a LOT of penlight batteries.

Kilolani you dumb haole... what are you thinking. If the sun was the size of
a large grapefruit (6" in diameter) then Neptune would be about 1/2 mile
away... but that's still a LOT of wire thingeys.

"Kilolani" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Roger Hamlett" wrote in message
...

There are several companies, who make 'custom' motorised Orrery systems,
and
some of the larger units do offer inclinations to the planes of the
planetary orbits (even smaller generally do for the Moon). Most of the
'powered' units, are mains driven, rather than battery, since it is
suprising how many gears are involved, and the power losses these
generate.
You may well be pretty amazed at the prices. A 'kit' for a reasonable
clockwork Orrery, will probably be about $2000, while a custom large
Orrery,
will be comparable in price to perhaps a Meade 16" scope...
One of the cheapest reasonable sized units, is at:
http://www.orreries.freeserve.co.uk/...nd_orrery.html
While the one designed by Martyn Bainbridge, at the London planetarium,
is
perhaps close to what you are thinking about:
http://www.martynbainbridge.co.uk/orrery.html

Remember, however, that while they are quite beautiful to look at, an
Orrery
will not have what you originally asked for, which is the planets at their
correct relative distances from each other and moving in real time. They
will move in "relative time" to each other but they will be MUCH closer to
the sun and to each other than their true relative distances.
Yes. There seemed to be a slight 'bluriness' in the original question, since
there was the reference to the 'correct relative distances', but then
allowed the planets to be much larger than 'scale' size. On this basis a
good Orrery does meet the requirements (provided you accept that the orbits
are on a different scale to the object sizes, and that these may also not
agree with one another - it is common to use a different scale for the Sun,
to that used for the planets).

Best Wishes