# Does there exist any reasonably observable scale model of the Solar System? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154 "2007-07-25T22:43:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/1 "2007-07-25T22:43:43Z")
I was reading Bill Bryson’s _A short history of nearly everything_ and while trying to put the scale and distances of our solar system into perspective, he explained that to even put on paper a scale model of the solar system, if Jupiter were the size of the period at the end of this sentence, neptune would be both 35 feet away and microscopic. Wow! Talk about putting something into perspective… So anyway, I started wondering - does there exist any reasonable scale model of the solar system on earth? I’m imagining maybe a gymnasium-sized model in some science museum or something like that. Is it even possible to make such a thing while preserving the size relationships between the Sun and the planets? ---
**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:** [July 25, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/2 "2007-07-25T22:48:51Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] I was reading Bill Bryson’s _A short history of nearly everything_ and while trying to put the scale and distances of our solar system into perspective, he explained that to even put on paper a scale model of the solar system, if Jupiter were the size of the period at the end of this sentence, neptune would be both 35 feet away and microscopic. Wow! Talk about putting something into perspective… So anyway, I started wondering - does there exist any reasonable scale model of the solar system on earth? I’m imagining maybe a gymnasium-sized model in some science museum or something like that. Is it even possible to make such a thing while preserving the size relationships between the Sun and the planets? [/QUOTE] When I was a kid, we used to go to the National Geographic building in Washington, DC. They had a scale model of the Solar System, with little lights cycling to show how fast the planets moved. They didn’t have the actual planet dimensions modeled, though. As I recall, the model was maybe 15’ long. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/3 "2007-07-25T22:50:45Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] I was reading Bill Bryson’s _A short history of nearly everything_ and while trying to put the scale and distances of our solar system into perspective, he explained that to even put on paper a scale model of the solar system, if Jupiter were the size of the period at the end of this sentence, neptune would be both 35 feet away and microscopic. Wow! Talk about putting something into perspective… So anyway, I started wondering - does there exist any reasonable scale model of the solar system on earth? I’m imagining maybe a gymnasium-sized model in some science museum or something like that. Is it even possible to make such a thing while preserving the size relationships between the Sun and the planets? [/QUOTE] According to the [National Optical Astronomy Observatory,](http://www.noao.edu/education/peppercorn/pcmain.html) if the Earth were the size of a peppercorn you would need over a thousand yards to show all the orbits. I assume this means that the entire model would be at least two thousand yards wide. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/4 "2007-07-25T22:52:54Z")
They have something along the sidewalk on the Mall side of the Air & Space Museum in DC, running towards the Castle (the old Smithsonian). I think that the sun is about grapefruit sized, and most of the planets are like BBs. So while the actual planet size might be a bit off so you can see them, the distances _are_ relative, and it’s an interesting perspective. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/5 "2007-07-25T22:53:19Z")
There are several “large scale” models - where the sun is a water tower or something. I’m guessing there are “building scale” ones also, but don’t know of any for sure. > **[Solar System model](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_system_model)** > > Solar System models, especially mechanical models, called orreries, that illustrate the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the Solar System have been built for centuries. While they often showed relative sizes, these models were usually not built to scale. The enormous ratio of interplanetary distances to planetary diameters makes constructing a scale model of the Solar System a challenging task. As one example of the difficulty, the distance between the Earth and the Sun ... Brian ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/6 "2007-07-25T22:55:52Z")
There are some on-line attempts [http://en.devhed.com/solar-system/](http://en.devhed.com/solar-system/) (with an explanation of the difficulty of actually sqeezing anything meaningful into a 1280 pixel screen) [http://www.troybrophy.com/projects/solarsystem/index.html](http://www.troybrophy.com/projects/solarsystem/index.html) And here is a walk-around attempt, althugh I do not know how accurate the orbital scale is. [http://www.arm.ac.uk/astropark/solar\_system.htm](http://www.arm.ac.uk/astropark/solar_system.htm) And an elementary school set of instructions to build a model [http://epswww.unm.edu/iom/epo/scale/outdoorscale.pdf](http://epswww.unm.edu/iom/epo/scale/outdoorscale.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/7 "2007-07-25T22:58:46Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] So anyway, I started wondering - does there exist any reasonable scale model of the solar system on earth? I’m imagining maybe a gymnasium-sized model in some science museum or something like that. [/QUOTE] Why not try a logarithmic scale model? You might need separate scales for the sizes of the celestial bodies and the distances between them, though. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/8 "2007-07-25T22:58:49Z")
The [SpacedOut Project](http://www.spacedout-uk.com/) has created one spanning the _ **entire** _ British Isles. Amongst the major objects, the Sun is at [Jodrell Bank](http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/) in the Midlands, Neptune is in Northern Ireland and Pluto at Aberdeen in the north of Scotland. There are more minor objects in both Shetland and Cornwall, at opposite ends of the country. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/9 "2007-07-25T23:00:59Z")
ETA: Never mind, screwed something up with the conversion factors. Next try’s a charm. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/10 "2007-07-25T23:03:36Z")
What about the set of pictures that goes from Earth to Antares? Or [this video](http://www.samtsai.com/wp-email.php?p=468)? ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/11 "2007-07-25T23:21:28Z")
> [@VCO3](#): > > Is it even possible to make such a thing while preserving the size relationships between the Sun and the planets? It’s not only possible, it’s been done many times. I’ve been to [the one in Ithaca, NY](http://www.sciencenter.org/saganpw/). I remember participating in the [sports-field one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_system_model#A_model_based_on_a_sports_field) (or something very similar) in my high school astronomy class. I created a scale Earth-Moon model for my students when I was a TA at UC Santa Cruz: Say San Francisco (which is about 8 miles wide) is the Earth. On that same scale, roughly where should the moon be? a. San Jose b. Santa Cruz c. San Luis Obispo d. Los Angeles The correct answer is c, San Luis Obispo ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/12 "2007-07-25T23:21:33Z")
The big problem you’re going to run into trying to build this is that the planets are absolutely dwarfed by the distances between them, especially as you get to the outer planets. I put together a table showing how far each planet would be from the sun\* and how far away it would be if you tried to build a model with the earth 10 feet away. Here’s how it looks (all numbers are feet): ```auto Planet Distance Radius Mercury 4.59 0.00 Venus 7.16 0.00 Earth 10.00 0.00 Mars 16.39 0.00 Jupiter 53.69 0.00 Saturn 98.88 0.00 Uranus 197.66 0.00 Neptune 298.29 0.00 ``` You can immediately see a small problem with trying to build this. For the record, the actual radius for Jupiter is .0047 feet, which is a little over 1/20th of an inch. Earth’s radius is a little over 1/200th of an inch; I’m not sure if I can even see that. \*I used the aphelion distance for every planet. I’m not sure if that’s the best number, but since we’re talking order-of-magnitude here, I figured consistency was the most important thing. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/13 "2007-07-25T23:38:08Z")
I’m drawing a blank on where, but I’ve seen a scale layout of the sun and nine planets (before they changed their minds about Pluto!) that was miles long. Most of it was within the building, but Pluto was a small painted spot on the sidewalk a few miles away from the building. Some poking around… [Here’s one in Peoria, IL](http://www.lakeview-museum.org/SolarSystem/solarsystemdrive.html) It’s 47 miles from the [sun](http://www.bradley.edu/las/phy/astronomy/sun.html) to [Pluto](http://www.bradley.edu/las/phy/astronomy/pluto.html) Assuming they kept the same scale all the way through, Pluto is about as big as the keyhole on the museum’s door. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/14 "2007-07-26T00:00:19Z")
[QUOTE=gotpasswords] I’m drawing a blank on where, but I’ve seen a scale layout of the sun and nine planets (before they changed their minds about Pluto!) that was miles long. Most of it was within the building, but Pluto was a small painted spot on the sidewalk a few miles away from the building. [/QUOTE] That must be one gigantic building if it’s to scale! The [Carl Sagan Planet Walk](http://www.sciencenter.org/saganpw/map.asp), mentioned by **Anne Neville** above, is only about a mile from the sun to Pluto. The inner planets are on the same block as the sun. You’ll have to cross the street and go around the corner to get to Jupiter. Saturn is another block and a half away from Jupiter. Uranus is another 2.5 blocks away from Saturn, and Neptune is 4 blocks from Saturn. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/15 "2007-07-26T00:12:49Z")
[QUOTE=ultrafilter] You can immediately see a small problem with trying to build this. For the record, the actual radius for Jupiter is .0047 feet, which is a little over 1/20th of an inch. Earth’s radius is a little over 1/200th of an inch; I’m not sure if I can even see that. [/QUOTE] If we take the order-of-magnitude assumption that an object a millimeter in diameter is about the smallest thing the average human can see with an unaided eye at a negligible distance, Jupiter is the only planet you’ll be able to see without a magnifying glass or a microscope. (1/20th of an inch is exactly 1.27 mm.) ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/16 "2007-07-26T00:50:10Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] What about the set of pictures that goes from Earth to Antares? Or [this video](http://www.samtsai.com/wp-email.php?p=468)? [/QUOTE] [Here you go](http://www.daykeeperjournal.com/aarch06/0608aug/feature3.shtml). Not what the OP was after, but a terrific model nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/17 "2007-07-26T01:06:01Z")
[QUOTE=psychonaut] Why not try a logarithmic scale model? You might need separate scales for the sizes of the celestial bodies and the distances between them, though. [/QUOTE] That would work, of course, but it feels like cheating. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/18 "2007-07-26T01:24:08Z")
As other have said, the range of sizes precludes a scale model that includes the planets and their satellites to the same scale as the distances between planets. Using the model that was 1.3 km long, to the same scale as that length being the distance from the sun to Pluto the sun would have a diameter of about 3/32". ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/19 "2007-07-26T01:48:10Z")
[Here’s one in Maine that is apparently completely to scale](http://www.space.com/spacewatch/main_system_030607.html). It’s 40 miles long and they say the Earth is the size of a softball. Jupiter is 5 feet. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154/20 "2007-07-26T02:23:57Z")
[QUOTE=tanstaafl] [Here’s one in Maine that is apparently completely to scale](http://www.space.com/spacewatch/main_system_030607.html). It’s 40 miles long and they say the Earth is the size of a softball. Jupiter is 5 feet. [/QUOTE] The article doesn’t say whether they included the sun. If my calculations are correct, the sun at that scale would be almost 50 feet in diameter. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-there-exist-any-reasonably-observable-scale-model-of-the-solar-system/413154.md?page=2)