The Celestial Mirror

The Ptolemaic architecture of the cosmos — Earth, the seven planetary spheres, the Stellatum, the Primum Mobile, and what lies beyond. After Michael Mangialardi’s essay on medieval cosmology and LLM architecture.

Read the paper ↗

Planet maps © Solar System Scope (CC BY 4.0)

drag to orbit · scroll to zoom · ↑/↓ climb the rungs · hovering pauses the heavens · click a sphere for its story

The Celestial Mirror

“…a series of hollow and transparent globes, one above the other…”

— C.S. Lewis, The Discarded Image

Ascend from the motionless Earth through the seven planetary spheres to the Stellatum and the Primum Mobile — up to the one boundary no geometry can cross. Then toggle the view, and climb the same tower as a transformer: token to layer to fixed constellation, with the very same line drawn at the top.

Read the paper: The Celestial Mirror ↗