King Louis XIV's Planetarium & Eclipsarion
 
The Planetarium and the Eclipsarion were specially made for King Louis XIV, designed by Ole Roemer and made by the skilful clockmaker Isaac Thuret. The Danish king Christian V had a special set executed, which still can be seen at the Royal Collections of Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen. 

Now these planetary machines are being handmade in a limited edition of five examples by atelier ANDERSEN. 
 
The  planetarium is an analogue calculator – which shows the Copernican concept of the universe with the sun in the centre. The planets from the sun and towards the firmament are, Mercury, Venus, the Earth with the revolving moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Each planet is represented by a precious stone. 

On the planisphere side all positions of the planet are shown by turning a key, and at the same time the moon revolves around the Earth showing its phases. 
 
The hemisphere side is easily viewed as the octagonal cabinet is turnable. This part is an astrolabe which furthermore shows the actual time for the chosen positions of the planets with the day, the month and the year. The background is a constellation-map which shows the northern hemisphere. An artificial horizon, which is dependent on the local latitude, shows the visible stars according to the present time or to a casual chosen time. 
The beautifully engraved hemisphere with the constellations and the zodiac surrounded by the circular 24-hours indicator which points out the date. 
Two apertures respectively show the decade and the present year.  The ecliptic is shown by a special engraving. The constellations are named and can even nowadays be used as guidance to survey the starry sky.
The Eclipsarion...