# Deceptive display of solar system. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321 "2012-01-22T18:50:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![axolotyl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/50afbb/32.png) [@axolotyl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/axolotyl)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/1 "2012-01-22T18:50:10Z")
I’ve seen this rarely: a more accurate depiction of the solar system. Usually, it is shown as a compact array of the relative sizes of planets with a huge sun in the center. How many have seen a realistic scale? If one inch=one million miles, the sun would be .865 inches diameter, Earth would be 7.8 ft. away and .008 inches diameter. Jupiter, .087" dia. and 40.3 ft. distance. Neptune, 232.7 ft from Sun and .031" diameter. Get real, graphic artists and science program directors… We’re really very tiny and alone… ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/2 "2012-01-22T18:54:37Z")
[Go to Boston.](http://www.mos.org/sln/wtu/css.html) ---
**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:** [January 22, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/3 "2012-01-22T18:56:20Z")
There are plenty of [outdoor scale models.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_system_model) When pictured in a book, magazine, etc. there will be inaccuracies in scale. No deception is being attempted. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/4 "2012-01-22T19:12:48Z")
[Solar System Scale Model](http://www.phrenopolis.com/perspective/solarsystem/) 😉 [http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar\_system/](http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/) ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/5 "2012-01-22T19:14:13Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > There are plenty of [outdoor scale models.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_system_model) Yeah, these are pretty common. I saw [this one](http://anchorageplanetwalk.org/wheretostart.html) in Anchorage a few months back. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/6 "2012-01-22T19:20:52Z")
There’s a good Apple app called Solar Walk that allows you to zoom around an accurate depiction of the solar system. What I like is that it shows you how the solar system looks in real time and you can move the date around (plus it includes satellites and stuff). What’s even better is that it’s the first time I’ve managed to get my 6-year-old half-brother fascinated by anything science related. I think he likes pretending to fly around in space. ---
**Author:** ![Dufus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c77e96/32.png) [@Dufus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dufus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/7 "2012-01-22T19:22:22Z")
Whoever decided to call it “space” had it right, because there’s not much else. I’ve heard that the distances between atoms in molecules are at the same scale, mostly empty space. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/8 "2012-01-22T19:32:46Z")
It’s impossible to accurately show anything to do with the solar system with an ordinary picture. The short film _Powers of Ten_ gives you a better idea: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/0fKBhvDjuy0/hqdefault.jpg "Powers of Ten™ (1977)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/9 "2012-01-22T19:37:55Z")
Physical models of the solar system can either be visually interesting, or accurate, but not both. If you keepthe scale accurate, you either have to render the planets as grains of sand, or male the: planets bigger and have to drive or fly to get from one to the next. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/10 "2012-01-22T19:56:01Z")
There’s one in DC: [http://voyagesolarsystem.org/DC/DC\_default.html](http://voyagesolarsystem.org/DC/DC_default.html) ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/11 "2012-01-22T21:03:45Z")
The diameter of Mercury is about 5000 kilometers. The radius of Neptune’s orbit is about 4.5 billion kilometers. That’s a ratio of roughly one million. There’s simply no accurate way to represent both of those figures accurately on the same linear scale. ETA: For example, if you make Mercury 1 mm in diameter, Neptune is 1 kilometer from the Sun on that scale. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/12 "2012-01-22T21:11:56Z")
[This picture of Neptune](http://www.flickr.com/photos/75905404@N00/4200371903/) is part of a 1:38,000,000 scale model of the Solar System – I saw it about 2 years ago, but I haven’t yet seen the other parts of the model, since they are hundreds of kilometers away from where this is. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/13 "2012-01-22T21:42:11Z")
I saw a perfect scale model of the Solar System once. It was at 1:1 scale. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/14 "2012-01-22T21:49:03Z")
The world’s largest (apart from the one \*\*Chronos \*\*has seen) is in [Sweden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_Solar_System). ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/15 "2012-01-22T21:49:04Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > [Go to Boston.](http://www.mos.org/sln/wtu/css.html) Best straight line I’ve read all week: > [@](#): > > Please call the locations of the planets to confirm their accessibility before visiting ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/16 "2012-01-22T22:00:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Please call the locations of the planets to confirm their accessibility before visiting We are sorry, Europa is closed for renovation. Attempt no landings there. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/17 "2012-01-22T22:09:48Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > We are sorry, Europa is closed for renovation. Attempt no landings there. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/18 "2012-01-23T17:26:59Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > [Go to Boston.](http://www.mos.org/sln/wtu/css.html) That was going to be my suggestion. What’s funny is that I’ve seen three of those models, but have been in the buildings of several more without realizing it. I was mere steps away from Pluto just about a year ago. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/19 "2012-01-23T17:32:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I saw a perfect scale model of the Solar System once. It was at 1:1 scale. You’ve only seen it once? You need to get out more. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321/20 "2012-01-23T18:42:03Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > That was going to be my suggestion. What’s funny is that I’ve seen three of those models, but have been in the buildings of several more without realizing it. I was mere steps away from Pluto just about a year ago. Unexpected benefit of Pluto’s demotion from planethood: Accurate, smaller scale models are easier to create. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deceptive-display-of-solar-system/610321.md?page=2)