Historical map of the solar system, published in Germany in 1853. The main diagram shows the orbits of the first seven planets out to Uranus. Neptune had been discovered in 1846, but is only shown on the list at upper left. Pluto was not discovered until 1930. The phases of the Moon are illustrated at lower left. Details of Saturns rings are shown at upper right, while conjunctions of Mercury and Venus are shown at lower right. The main diagram, drawn to scale, shows how the inner solar system is tiny when compared to the vast distances of the outer solar system. The highly elliptical orbits of comets are shown, as well as the asteroid belt.
