Made by artist and photographer Mishka Henner, the width of each page in Astronomical represents a distance of 1 million kilometers (about 621,000 miles). Naturally it begins with the sun in the first two pages of volume 1. The rest of the books are nothing but blackness, interspersed with the planets where appropriate. The picture above shows the Earth – we’re on page 155 of volume 1. Meanwhile Pluto is on the 6,000th page of the set. Perhaps there are aliens lurking in the other pages.

This read-through really drives the point of the collection home:

Believe it or not, you can actually buy your own copy of Astronomical for your own bookshelf. Contact Mishka and he’ll gladly make you a whole set for £100 (~$157 USD). Honestly I think we just need the one set and any more would be a waste of paper, but that’s just my two cents.

[via io9 & CultureLab via Laughing Squid]

The guys over at Watchluxus have turned me on to this amazingly intricate mechanical device which demonstrates the workings of our the Solar System in unbelievable detail. Richard Mille’s Planetarium-Tellurium provides a glimpse into the exact positions of the Earth, Venus, Mercury, the Sun and the Moon.

While it might not include all of the planets, and the Earth has been enlarged for aesthetic reasons, it’s capable of telling viewers an astounding amount of information including the current axis of the Earth, it’s position relative to the Sun, the rotation of the Moon, as well as the positions of Venus and Mercury among other things. It’s also an extremely sophisticated clock and perpetual calendar, which can even tell the current signs of the Zodiac.

Mille enlisted the counsel of a renowned astronomer-physicist to help with all of the calculations that were needed in order to accurately convert these movements into a mechanical system. To put the precision into perspective, the least precise calculation is the current axis of the Earth, which can get off by plus or minus 1° every 7.7 years. Most of the other calculations are far more stable, like the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, which should be accurate within 1° for up to 2 million years!

From what I’ve been able to glean, Mille actually plans on producing these clocks for purchase, although I haven’t been able to find out any details on that yet. Given the insane amount of detail and fine craftsmanship, I’d expect that you’d be able to buy a really nice car or a small condo for less than what these will ultimately sell for.