Armillary sphere, 18th century. Artwork of a French armillary sphere dating from 1705. This astronomical device shows the circles of the celestial sphere, and is used to demonstrate the motion of the stars around the Earth. The circles surrounding the Earth include the plane of the ecliptic, and the celestial equivalents of the equator, North and South Poles, the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, and the meridians and parallels. These circles are marked in French. Armillary spheres were an important symbol of the rise of science in Renaissance Europe. Here, a smaller Earth sphere is at bottom, with additional views of the continents at lower left and lower right.