# A scale model of the Solar System **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 29, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/501380 "2009-06-29T19:19:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/501380/1 "2009-06-29T19:19:46Z")
Very cool! [http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/news/2009/may/22/cosmos-cut-size/?print](http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/news/2009/may/22/cosmos-cut-size/?print) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/501380/2 "2009-06-29T19:31:38Z")
That is cool. More on [Solar System models](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_system_model). ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/501380/3 "2009-06-29T19:41:11Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > More on [Solar System models](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_system_model). I was going to mention the South Station Jupiter pictured in you link. I’ve seen it many times. I’ve also seen Earth and I think Venus. I’ve never seen Pluto, as that’s a long way away. ---
**Author:** ![Kalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/df705f/32.png) [@Kalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalypso)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/501380/4 "2009-06-29T20:12:16Z")
When I was in high school we did the model based on a 100 yard sports field. It was a lesson I never forgot. No textbook could convey it like sitting in the stands looking down at the scale model could. That experiment should be mandatory. We had to do the math ourselves, but for younger kids you could just make them measure themselves. ---
**Author:** ![This\_Just\_In\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@This\_Just\_In\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/This_Just_In_2)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/501380/5 "2009-06-30T14:24:34Z")
There is a really awesome solar system model in Eugene, Oregon. It has Pluto at 3.7 miles away from the sun. The projec t is described here: [http://www.efn.org/~jack\_v/](http://www.efn.org/~jack_v/) ---
**Author:** ![Marienee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Marienee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marienee)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/501380/6 "2009-06-30T19:46:41Z")
I take [this](http://www.noao.edu/education/peppercorn/pcmain.html) walk (or something very like it) with my kids and usually a couple of their friends every year. It’s good fun. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/501380/7 "2009-06-30T21:29:35Z")
“curator of the solar system.” I’d love that job. 😃 I wonder if there’s any one of these relatively nearby (I live the Netherlands). I’d love to see one. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/501380/8 "2009-06-30T21:45:41Z")
There’s one here in Sweden (literally cross-country; the Sun is in Stockholm and the marker for the Terminal Shock is up above the Arctic Circle) and there’s one in the Hague. I wish I’d known about the Sweden Solar System earlier! I’ve been near Mercury and Venus without realizing it. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/501380/9 "2009-07-01T05:27:12Z")
There was an outfit that was selling bronze plaques of the planets to use on a trail scale model of the solar system. They were meant to be mounted on a post. The Sun was not supplied but was scaled at three feet in diameter, the size of those spheres you see on high tension lines to warn aircraft. Pluto (it was still a planet then) would be several kilometers away.