Megan Brett @ Boulder Art Fair July 20-21 1996

As we walked down the street I noticed a display that had a couple OReys ..... well, that's what I thought they were called. When I came up closer I discovered that in fact they are Orrery. John Bennet & Gina Scioscia make them near here in Erie, Colorado. I saw one of them at a local art gallery when Sally and I were exploring a while ago. These are really quite nice. The photos don't do them much justice, but I'll try to explain.

	Here are two models. You notice the large sphere in the middle? That represents the Sun. And the smaller spheres around it? Yup, they're the planets. What John & Gina have done is to make a mechanical model of our solar system that reflects the time it takes each planet to go around the Sun. Mercury, the closest in, races around and around. while Pluto, the last one out, take about two hours to get around this small sun. They are really cool, each planet is a different stone.
They even built one upside down.... way cool! It's hard to see, but each planet in this model is a clear crystal. This would be awesome with the right lighting. The motors are powered in three different ways. There is one that has a wind-up clock mechanism that runs for about 3 minutes. Then there is a battery powered one that goes for days. And finally there is an AC, plug-it-into-the-wall, version. For the show the prices were: Wind-up -- $125 Battery -- $145 Plug-in -- $175
	This is John Bennett. You can reach him at: 4884 N. 119th Str. Erie, CO 80516 (303) 828-3238