Click for a magnified picture!

Here’s a YouTube video of the completed orrery.

The Copernican Orrery

A world premiere: the first ever fully functional cardboard orrery! It demonstrates the movements of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Moon around the Sun. One turn of the crank represents one week and shows the relative movements of the heavenly bodies accurately. The 4.5 cm measuring illuminated sun in the centre helps demonstrating the seasons, phases of  Moon and Venus, eclipses, and much more. A fantastic kit that never fails to impress!

Kit includes axles, magnets, pulley belts, planets, bearings, and LED light.

Height: 29.5 cm, diameter: 29 cm, time to build: 20-30 hours

£31.92

No 229.KOP

The Sextant

The classical instrument for measuring angles as used by sailors and discoverers. A sturdy kit with two unbreakable stainless steel mirrors and a sun filter.

This sextant is not a toy but a fully functional instrument with an accuracy of 5-10 arc minutes! Ideal for everybody who wants to explore the fascinating world of astronomical navigation.

£18.90

No 206.SXT

The Artificial Horizon

Fits onto the sextant and upgrades it for use on dry land when the true horizon is difficult to see.

Also available as a set: see Special Offers

£6.60

No 207.KHZ

Other AstroMedia cardboard kits:

The Digital Sundial

This sundial actually shows the time in digits which are projected onto a tilting readout field. You can read true local time, standard time, and summer time on this beautifully made scientific instrument... to an accuracy of 5 minutes!

Can be adjusted to all latitudes between Oslo and Cairo.

Size: 19 x 12 x 16 cm

£11.94

No 215.GDS

The Universal Sundial Ring

This Queen of sundials can be adjusted to any location in the world to show the true local time.

An extremely robust and beautiful precision instrument.

Size: 1 x 14.4 c 17.5 cm

£13.92

No 216.RSU

The Stardial

How did our ancestors tell the time at night? This reconstruction of a 500 year old stardial shows the time with the help of the North Star and the Big Dipper. You can even read it in the dark, using only your finger tips!

On the back of the dial you find a mariner’s astrolabe for measuring the height of the Sun, stars, and landmarks.

Size: 3 x 16 x 29 cm

£11.94

No 221.ASU

The Sundial Postcard

The sundial you can send by mail! The latitude can be adjusted between 45 and 57 degrees. The instructions are in German, but the construction is really easy... only a few cuts and a bit of gluing turn this card into a classical horizontal sundial.

£0.60

No 280.PKH

The Starry Sky Postcard

The instructions are in German, but the construction is simple... only a few cuts and a bit of gluing turn this postcard into the probably smallest model of the night sky with 800 stars and all star signs of the northern hemisphere.

£0.60

No 281.PKS

The AstroMedia Solar Observation Specs

The original Baader solar filters of these spectacles with a filter factor of 100,000 are CE certified and offer perfect protection when observing the sun.

£2.10

No 260.ASB

Baader AstroSolar™ Solar Filter Film (large)

With the help of this special CE certified film with a filter factor of 100,000 you can observe the sun directly with your binoculars or telescope. Just fit the foil over the aperture / objective lens

(NOT over the eyepiece!).

Size: 20 x 29 cm

£19.50

No 233.ASF

The Pocket Telescope

A robust mini-telescope (galilean type) with a magnification of 3.5 and not much bigger than a lipstick. A neat little kit that includes the OptiMedia lenses 1 and 6.

Size: 2 x 2 x 8.5 (-11) cm

£2.70

No 110.WTT

The Kepler Telescope

This is a kit for an astronomical telescope according to Johannes Kepler. The surprisingly sharp and bright picture is upside down as usual with astronomical telescopes. The magnification factor is 10, ideal for moon craters and even the moons of Jupiter. The kit includes the OptiMedia lenses 3, 7, and 9.

Size: 5 x 5 x 30 (-45) cm

£5.40

No 111.KEP

The Galileo Telescope

Galileo is famous for being the first man to point a telescope at the night sky. With this simple kit you can build yourself a telescope like the one he used in the 17th century. Can you find the moons of Jupiter like he did? The kit is easy to assemble and includes the OptiMedia lenses 1 and 9.

Size: 5 x 5 x 30 (-45) cm

£4.32

No 112.GAL

The Lilliput Folding Telescope

According to the Guinness Book of Records the smallest telescope in the world! Folded together it is only half as big as a credit card. It magnifies twice and focusing is achieved by a simple cardboard spring mechanism.

The kit includes the OptiMedia lenses 1 and 5.

£2.82

No 113.LIL

The Newton Telescope

This is a kit for a fully functional Newton reflecting telescope with Dobsonian mounting. The main BAADER glass mirror with SiO2 coating has a diameter of 70 mm and a focus length of 450 mm. Two eyepieces provide magnification factors of 16 and 30, enough for moon craters and even the moons of Jupiter.

Size: 45 x 16 x 28 cm

£19.92

No 209.NST

The Solar Filter

A solar filter for the Newton Telescope. Use this filter to safely observe sun spots.

Also available as a set: see Special Offers

£5.10

No 210.NSF

Telescopes and Astronomy:

Sundials:

The Stirling Engine

Yes, with this cardboard kit you can actually build a working stirling engine. Just place the engine on a cup with boiling water and it will move silently for up to an hour! Here you can see it running on YouTube.

The kit comes complete with all necessary parts like laser-cut aluminium plates, low-friction PVC bearings, steel crank, and vinyl seal. The instruction booklet also contains information about the historical background and tuning tips for longer running time.

Size: 12.6 x 12.6 x 16.5 cm

£21.90

No 228.STM

Runs on a cup of hot water! The top-selling stirling engine in Europe!

The Magic Lantern

From the 17th century on magic lanterns made a huge impression on fair ground spectators. This is a kit for an elegant and fully functional cardboard replica in original size. It comes complete with electric lighting, three lens optics (3x OptiMedia lens 7), and one classical picture strip. Of course you can make your own slides for projection.

Size: 29 x 13 x 24.5 cm

£21.90

No 222.LMC

The Kaleidoscope

Literally translated a kaleidoscope is a “beautiful-shape-to-look-at”. Already known by the Greeks , it was re-invented in 1816 by David Brewster. The appeal of this beautiful kit is that you can change the filling of the viewing chamber to produce the most wonderful patterns. Complete with lens and mirrors.

Size: 23.5 x 6.5 x 6.5 cm

£11.94

No 223.KLD

The Microscope

Dive into the world of the small! This kit for a microscope in the style of the first 19th century brass models is equipped with 3 lenses and has a magnification of 40. Two moving mirrors provide lighting from above and below. Complete with object holders made from PET film.

Size: 13 x 11 x 27 cm

£12.90

No 220.MIK

The Periscope

Rugged, intricately printed cardboard kit with two unbreakable, highly polished stainless steel mirrors. This continuously adjustable periscope lifts the eye level by up to 40 cm. It even permits to look behind you and around corners. Great fun and educational too!

Size: 5.5 x 12.5 x 32(-50) cm

£8.94

No 415.PER

The Nelson Telescope

Build yourself a proper sailor’s telescope of the type that Nelson would have used. The five-section draw tube and two lenses provide you with 6x magnification. It even comes with a lockable container to protect it when you are on shore leave.

Includes the OptiMedia lenses 1a and 9.

Size: 5.5 x 5.5 x 13.5 (-36) cm

£9.90

No 217.NLT

The Soprano Ocarina

Our soprano ocarina is tuned to C major and has a wonderful velvety tone. Like all ocarinas it is very easy to play and even comes with an introduction and some simple songs. Kit made from gold printed, pre-cut cardboard with moisture barrier. Simple and very stable construction, built in about 45 minutes.

£3.90

No 470.OKS

The Pirate’s Telescope

Scary buccaneer design with glittering gold print. Very simple assembly for old salts and land lubbers alike. Two lenses for 6x magnification. Yarr!

Size: 4.5 x 4.5 x 15.5 (-23) cm

£3.90

No 235.PTL

The Magnetic Compass

Build a beautiful fully functional magnetic compass to take bearings and find the cardinal points. This excellent kit is more than a toy and allows an accurate fix on land and sea marks. Comes with its own protective case

Size: 15 x 15 x 8 cm

£7.92

No 218.GMG

The Hand Spectroscope

With this easy to build spectroscope you can examine the spectrum of any light source; glowing bodies (sun, incandescent light bulb), fluorescent lamps, etc. On the nano-meter scale you can read the wave length to 5 nm accuracy (examples).

Complete with diffraction grating and magnification lens.

£7.92

No 406.HSP

The cheapest spectroscope in the world!

Here is what one of our customers thinks about this kit.

The Tripod Adapter (flat)

Wooden rail to mount our telescopes with flat sides on a normal photographic tripod. With special nut to fit most standard tripods.

Size: 250 x 25 x 7 mm

£1.92

No 259.FSA

The Tripod Adapter (round)

Wooden rail to mount our round telescopes on a normal photographic tripod. With special nut to fit most standard tripods.

Size: 200 x 33 x 15 mm

£2.94

No 258.FSR

The Sun Projector

This practical instrument projects the sun onto a view screen. The diameter of the projection is 55 or 75 mm. Easy and secure to use and therefore ideal to introduce children to the sun!

The optics consists of an achromatic glass lens, one plane and two convex mirrors. The projector can be adjusted from 0 to 90 degrees, two quadrants measure the sun’s declination.

Size: 20 x 20 x 25 cm

£19.50

No 227.SPR

Click here to download the instructions!

The Plumber’s Telescope

An astronomical refracting telescope with a magnification of 30 for the price of a CD!

With a piece of waste pipe and fittings (not included) you can build yourself a sturdy astronomical telescope with a sharp colour corrected image and 30x magnification that can be mounted on an ordinary photographic tripod. It has an upside down picture like most astronomical telescopes.

The kit contains a set of high quality achromatic glass lenses, a tripod adapter, cardboard fittings, instructions, and a shopping list for your local DIY store.

Object lens: Achromat, 40 mm, f=450 mm

Eyepiece: Plössl, 15 mm, f=15 mm

Length of the telescope: 53 cm

£14.94

No 240.BLT

Click here for the instructions!

Here is what one of our customers thinks about this kit.

The Prism Kit

A kit for a prism made from acrylic glass.

Cast acrylic glass blank with all necessary polishing material to produce a highly transparent prism, instructions included.

Suitable for children.

Size: 22 x 22 x 22 mm

Length: 55 mm

£3.90

No 409.PRI

Click here for a bigger picture!

Here’s what one of our customers thinks about this kit.

The Historic Galileo Telescope

This beautiful kit is based on the last remaining telescope that belonged to Galileo (the oldest telescope in the world): a leather-bound show piece with golden ornaments for Cosimo II de Medici, which now is on show in Florence.

With this historically accurate cardboard  replica you can experience the great achievements of Galileo yourself. Although the performance of this historic telescope is not comparable to modern ones, it is fully functional and emphasises Galileo’s accomplishments.

High quality cardboard kit with four colour and gold print, complete with glass lenses for 12x magnification and wall/desktop mount.

Length of the telescope: 78 cm

Hint: mount the telescope on a normal tripod with our cheap Tripod Adapter (round), see our Components page!

£12.90

No 232.HGT

Baader AstroSolar™ Solar Filter Film (small)

With the help of this special CE certified film with a filter factor of 100,000 you can observe the sun directly with your binoculars or telescope. Just fit the foil over the aperture / objective lens

(NOT over the eyepiece!).

Size: 10 x 10 cm

£3.90

No 257.ASK

The Small Galileo Telescope

Two lenses connected by a cardboard tube: it’s that simple to build a telescope!

The prepunched kit contains an objective lens with 225 mm and an eyepiece lens with 35 mm focal length. This produces a magnification of 6.5.

The assembly is simple and takes only 20 minutes. An ideal project for groups and school classes. The picture is upright, therefore the telescope can be used by day or for astronomical observations (e.g. moon craters).

Length fully extended: 18 cm

£3.00

No 253.KGT

The Sun Movement Simulator

This simple and easy to build model shows the movement of the sun in the sky for every location on the northern hemisphere and for every day of the year. Just tilt the horizontal plane to the desired latitude, move the sun (brass clip) to the correct date and the pivoting cardboard arc demonstrates the sun’s movement. You can even determine the points of sunrise and sunset on the horizon. Different day lengths for summer and winter, polar day and night, equator sun, etc. can be easily demonstrated.

Ideal for teaching, e.g. astronomy classes.

Height with stand: 10.5 cm

£1.74

No 116.SNG

Replacement Belts for the Orrery

After lots of use the belts of the orrery can become brittle. Sunlight and over-stretching can speed up this process.

To make sure you can keep your beautiful orrery working for a long time we offer you these replacement belts.

Complete set of all 6 belts.

£4.90

No 230.KOR

The Camera Obscura

All our modern cameras have one common ancestor - The Camera Obscura: the light of the outside world falls through a pinhole onto the opposite wall of a room and produces an upside-down picture. In the 16th century the camera obscura was greatly improved by an objective lens, which produced much brighter pictures and around 1750 many painters, like the Venetian Canaletto, used it to make sketches for their paintings. Then in 1836 Nicéphore Nièpce projected the picture on a light-sensitive plate and the photographic camera was born.

Our beautiful, sturdy Camera Obscura is equipped with a powerful lens (60mm diameter, 275mm focal length) and a mirror for an upright picture, like the one Canaletto used. The picture is projected onto a 16x16cm screen with transparent paper on which it can be viewed or copied by pencil.

Pre-punched kit with gold printing, complete with lens, mirror, clear screen and transparent paper.

Size: 280mm x 190mm x 190mm

£19.92

No 419.COB