Hard to believe this hasn't been posted before.

Vertical jets of air from perforations in the surface of a table suspend planetary spheres and their moons above it in a moving display of the solar system.

(not to scale)
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 14 2014

Geostationorrery Orrery Geostationorrery_20Orrery
Shameless elf-promotion [8th of 7, Aug 15 2014]

The earth could have a small weight mounted on a track inside along the antarctic circle. This would cause it to always hover with the correct tilt on it's axis. There could be some small fins or subtlety distorted shape to cause rotation aerodynamically.

I'm not sure if there would be a way to keep the direction of the tilt constant to show the seasons properly, and of course spinning it aerodynamically would make it hard to get the right number of days per year.
-- scad mientist, Aug 14 2014


By tinkering with temperature and humidity you might be able to simulate atmosphere (+)
-- normzone, Aug 14 2014


[scad], easier to project the image of the planet from a tiny lens concealed in the Sun's equator. That way it can just be a neutral sphere. Even handles eclipses correctly.

The Saturnian rings would be tricky, though.
-- 8th of 7, Aug 14 2014


This is an awesome idea, truly.

[+], and I am horror-struck at having but one bun to offer.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 14 2014


Nice idea - initially I thought it was a terrible idea, but that's because I misread the title as "Canada Orrery"
-- hippo, Aug 15 2014


What, like an orrery that goes round in ever decreasing circles ?
-- 8th of 7, Aug 15 2014


+ so cool!!!
-- xandram, Aug 15 2014


I love the projection idea. Would be great if it was big enough to walk around
-- bs0u0155, Aug 15 2014


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-- 8th of 7, Aug 15 2014



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