Precise by default
Exact numbers and exact edges. Every gear on this page meshes at m(N₁ + N₂) / 2 from its partner, and the code checks it.
Apps & tools
Orrery
We make apps and tools with the precision of clockwork. Every part has one job, every part keeps time, and nothing slips.
See the appsII · The apps
Many tools, one standard
Each Orrery app turns on its own arbor, like a planet on its own tube. They all answer to one standard of care, so they keep step with each other and with you.
- 01
App one
A short line on what it does.
Link coming soon - 02
App two
A short line on what it does.
Link coming soon - 03
App three
A short line on what it does.
Link coming soon
More are in the workshop.
III · Approach
One source of truth
Nothing on this page is keyframed. One clock turns the first wheel, and every other wheel takes its angle from the wheel that drives it. We build software the same way: state lives in one place, and everything else follows from it.
- Wheels & pinions
- —
- Teeth cut
- —
- Master clock
- 1
- Keyframes
- 0
Below the planets, a fly governor turns forty-eight times faster than the great wheel. This small air brake keeps the train from running away. Every good tool needs one.
IV · Precision
Measured, not guessed
Each arm opens where its planet stands tonight, then the gears take over. The tooth counts are whole numbers that come within a whisker of the true periods. We check our own work the same way: against the real thing.
| Planet | Train | Gears give | True period | Longitude |
|---|
Longitudes are heliocentric. They follow the mechanism, so they change as you wind it.
V · Detail
Details that take care of themselves
Earth's axis holds its direction as it rounds the Sun, so the seasons arrive on their own. Nobody animates them. Get the model right, and the details follow.
- Season, north
- —
- Sun in
- —
- Moon
- —
VI · Principles
What we hold to
Nothing drifts
Scrub time, reverse it, jump it by a century: every part is solved again from one number. Our apps keep their state just as honestly.
Made to feel right
Brass only looks like brass when the light is right. We give the same care to how every screen looks and feels in the hand.
Light on your device
No framework and no build step here. When a device struggles, the page lowers its own load. Our tools respect your battery the same way.
VII · The name
Why we are called Orrery
- 2nd c. BC
The Antikythera mechanism. Greek bronze gearing that tracked the Sun, the Moon and eclipses. It was lost in a shipwreck and recovered in 1901.
- c. 1704
Graham & Tompion. Two London clockmakers build a geared model of the Sun, Earth and Moon.
- c. 1712
The Earl of Orrery. John Rowley makes a copy for Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery. The name stays with the machine.
- 1781
Eisinga's ceiling. In Franeker, Eise Eisinga finishes a planetarium built into his own house. It still runs today.
- Today
Orrery. We take the name, and the standard, into software.
VIII · Try it
Wind the machine
This orrery is our calling card. Pick a day between the years 1000 and 2999. It winds there on its own gears and, like every real orrery, drifts a little over the centuries.
Or scroll fast. The faster you scroll, the faster the years go by.