The tabletop planetarium was created in 1828 by the Elberfeld carpenter Heinrich Aeuer and sold to the newly founded Realgymnasium Elberfeld just two years later. It was used there as a teaching instrument for decades before being loaned to the Deutsches Museum in Munich in 1907 at the request of Carl Duisberg. There it was part of the permanent exhibition of historical planetariums until 1992 - but then it disappeared into the museum's basement. The valuable model was only rediscovered by the astronomy working group of the Carl-Fuhlrott-Gymnasium, the successor school to the Elberfeld Realgymnasium.

In his lecture, Michael Winkhaus sheds light on the exciting story of its origins, deciphers the astronomical content of the historic tabletop planetarium and explains why he is working to bring the unique exhibit back to Wuppertal.