Beschreibung:

The Musser Copernican Planetarium Model 500, an unusual electrical orrery, made by Scientific Space Industries OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA, in form similar to a large television set, with a circular 171/8in. (43.6cm.) diameter perspex viewing screen, behind which is a black and white photographed night sky with numerous stars of various magnitudes, in the centre a bulb with red perspex cover protruding from the screen to represent the sun, on plastic arms from the bulb's support socket are painted planet balls: Mercury (red), Venus (green), Earth (green) with attached Moon ball (orange), Mars (dark orange), Jupiter (orange and yellow) and Saturn (green, with yellow rings), in addition three hemispheres are moulded onto the background and painted yellow and orange to represent Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, in a grey plastic housing, at the base of which are six knobs with the planetary symbols and names which can be turned anti-clockwise to move the planet balls and a counter for the years, in addition there is a scale with index for the months of the year also showing the equinoxes and solstices, further knobs turn on or off White Light, Black Light, the Sun and the Planet Power, with separate clear perspex cover for the viewing screen, the reverse applied with a label for SCIENTIFIC SPACE INDUSTRIES COPERNICUM PLANETARIUM CREATING A NEW WORLD WITH ELECTRONICS HUGHES AIRCRAFT COMPANY VACUUM TUBE PRODUCTS DIVISION OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA, serial number 537, the whole housing -- 24¼in. (61.6cm.) high ; with five various overlays for superimposition on the screen: a star-chart centred around the Pole Star, with the celestial equator, the ecliptic, and numerous constellations depicted by dotted lines, the outer extent of which bears a scale for the days of the year and which is moved within its sleeve by means of a small rubber-tyred wheel and a motorised plastic wheel in the actual planetarium, within an hour scale, the bottom of the disc with COPYRIGHT 1960 BY SCIENTIFIC SPACE INDUSTRIES INC.; PLANET SETTING OVERLAY NO. 1 with degree graduations 0-360 shown by red lines crossing concentric green circles; COMETS & METEORS STREAMS OVERLAY NO. 2 showing the paths of Halley's Comet, Encke and Leonid's Comet (November 1866) within concentric orange, green and red rings; EARTH MARS OPPOSITIONS OVERLAY No. 19 showing oppositions for the years 1956, 1958, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, and 1971 with distances in miles, and Perihelion and Aphelion; and PLANETARY CONFIGURATIONS OVERLAY NO. 20 with concentric red, green and orange rings for Mars, Earth and Venus respectively, with Superior Conjunction, Opposition, Eastern Quadrature and Western Quadrature; all contained in a pine case with carrying handles -- 28in. (71.2cm.) high See Colour Illustrations