Summary
The Meridian Orrery uses an ESP32, 3D parts, magnets, and motors to build a self-updating tabletop solar system.
Uses an ESP32C3 and DS3231 RTC to calculate planet positions offline after a one-time calibration.
Clever 1:11 gear ratio makes a tiny Moon orbit Earth accurately as rings and planets align nightly.
There’s just something innately cool about mixing ESP32 and 3D-printing technology with the cosmos. After all, mankind has been staring up at the planets and the moon for millennia, so representing the positions of the celestial bodies in the comfort of your own living room has a special vibe to it.
If you’d like to make your own orrery, then I have the project for you. Someone has created a full solar system model that combines the ESP32, some 3D printed parts, and magnets, and it’s designed to be as easy to make as possible.
Related
This adorable ESP32 desk robot won’t stop bothering you until you pet it
You will pet it, won’t you?
The Meridian Orrery is a planetary model you can build yourself
It even comes with a teeny-tiny moon orbiting Earth
This awesome project is the idea of illusionmanager on Instructables, who calls their device the Meridian Orrery. It looks complicated, but the creator is actually very proud of how simple it is under the hood. To make it, you only need an ESP32C3 Super Mini, some motors and magnets, sandpaper, a 3D printer, and a DS3231 real-time clock to keep tabs on the current time. Once you set the date and time correctly, the Meridian Orrery can automatically determine where the planets are without an internet connection.
Interested in more maker-related content? We launched the XDA Maker Weekly newsletter featuring unique and original content you won’t find anywhere else on XDA. Get subscribed by modifying your newsletter preferences!
The calibration process is pretty entrancing, and you can see it in action in the video above. Once a night, the device will begin spinning the rings around until they’re all aligned in a vernal equinox. Once the planets are in a line, the device then gets to work ‘placing’ each planet with a back-and-forth motion until they’re all in the correct spot.
But what about the miniature moon that orbits the Earth? Well, illusionmanager implemented a clever fix for it:
It has a small gear with 6 teeth running inside a ring with 66 teeth. When the Earth ring moves, the Moon rotates around it. With this ratio of 1:11, a full rotation of the Earth causes the Moon to end up in exactly the same location. In other words, when the system has calculated the Earth’s rotation, it also knows where the Moon would end up.
Honestly, looking at the Instructables page, it really doesn’t look that complicated to make. It looks like illusionmanager did all the heavy lifting with creating the mechanism and programming everything, and you just need to put everything in its place. Plus, there’s no better conversation starter than an orrery you built yourself.
Related
This ESP32 Macintosh Plus emulator can pull weather from Home Assistant
Bring some modern updates to your retro devices.