Magic Item: The Most Marvelous Armillary of Sassendal the Insightful

  This item and its concept was created by my oldest son, J.

  The sage Sassendal was rightly famous for his in-depth knowledge of the celestial bodies and their motions. His insights into their secrets earned him fame and wealth including a great gift from an adventurer - several pots of pigments that, when used to paint an image, made a duplicate of that thing depicted.
  Sassendal had used his wealth to finance the construction of a new armillary, one that he hoped would be not just the most comprehensive but the most accurate. The master craftsmen had completed the globe of Yrth (Sassendal's home world) as well as the bands for the sun, the moons, and the various planets. The sage gave the pigments to the master limner who had been hired to paint the surface of these globes and bands with the coasts, mountains, and rivers of the entire world or the various colors and patterns associated with them all.
  When the limner completed the Yrth globe he was astonished to see a brief flash as it was covered in movement: a film of clouds was visible over the miniature world!
  Equally surprised, Sassendal observed as the limner likewise used the magical paint on the bands of the sun, the planets, and the moons. As each was completed it seemed to flash into movement across its surface. When the last band, that of the sun, was complete it burst into light, glowing as if it were a miniature sun! The The various bands leapt into place around the mounted Yrth globe and began rotating in a perfect simulation of the celestial motion.

  Further, the Yrth globe accurately shows the weather of the entire planet (if it is a bit small).
  Sassendal was able to use the armillary for even more accurate work with the celestial objects and could further warn of typhoons and other great storms, earning him even greater wealth and fame.

  Since Sassendal's death the armillary rests in the Royal Library.

  The Most Marvelous Armillary: This magic item gives the following benefits:
  1) +5/+25% on all skill checks related to stars, moons, the sun, etc., including any sage knowledge checks.
  2) All divinations cast within 10' of the armillary have their duration and range increased by 50%.
  3) Further, all divinations cast within 10' have their accuracy increased by +3/15%,
  4) Anyone observing the armillary for 5 or more minutes can predict the weather for the next 48 hours with 80% accuracy.This check may only be made once a day per person.
  5) The armillary sheds true sunlight in a 60' radius.
  6) by using the various levers at the base a person can adjust the armillary to see the past or future locations of celestial objects allowing the very accurate predictions of solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, etc. The armillary returns to showing the present 1 minutes after such examinations.

  The armillary is 7' tall and weights 1,000 lbs. It makes all saving throws as hard metal at +3.

  Plot Ideas:
  -A Diviner has caught a glimpse of a future catastrophe and wants access tot he armillary to confirm his accuracy, but the royal librarian demands the hide of an ice fox in return for access.
  -Somehow someone has stolen the massive armillary from the king's library! The reward for its return is rather large....
  -The Royal Astronomer summons the party to the library. Advancing the controls to show 2 weeks into the future the armillary suddenly a falling star appears from the wall of the library and moves to the miniature Yrth, striking near the very kingdom you are in! The party has 15 days to think of a way to stop a falling star!