Ancient astronomical device

[Tonchi]

The History Channel has 2 hours worth of film about this extraordinary item. I saw the program last year, and was amazed at how they did the X-rays and attempted to figure out if it could be reconstructed to work by using those gears as a template. If you can find this program in your listings, it is worth watching.

BTW: The photo accompanying the article is NOT that of the original device, but rather is the model constructed using the same technology available to the Greeks to make it as authentic as possible. The original was squashed flat and encrusted with coral and sediments and had a lovely blue-green patina. Although it was suspected that this was a very complex device from the beginning, without the invention of advanced x-ray technology we would never have been able to "see" all of the pieces because they could not have been separated and some of the parts were only known from the "imprint" left in the sediments.