Orly Airport Astronomical Clock

Designed by architect Pierre KAYSER, the astrolabe clock was installed in 1970 during the inauguration of the West Terminal and restored in 1999. Its mechanisms were developed by the Strasbourg company UNGERER. They present the rotation of Earth-Moon and the movements of the two stars around the sun. The Earth and Moon diametres are 1.82 m and 0.49 m respectively, respecting the proportions between the planet and its natural satellite. The clock and its astrolabe indicate the legal time, the time of sunrise and sunset, azimuth and height of the Sun, the average longitude of the moon and its phases, the positions of the moon and the sun relative to the signs of the zodiac, as well as the eclipses of the sun and moon. Its metal structure consists of 2 rings, one horizontal which is the plane of the ecliptic, and the other oblique at 63° which is the galactic plane.