Scale Model of the Solar System

The Scale Model of the Solar System (from phrenopolis.com) shows both the relative sizes of the planets and the Sun as well as representing the distances from the Sun on the same scale.  This image is huge (just over half a mile wide), and as you can imagine mostly black.

This page shows a scale model of the solar system, shrunken down to the point where the Sun, normally more than eight hundred thousand miles across, is the size you see it here. The planets are shown in corresponding scale. Unlike most models, which are compressed for viewing convenience, the planets here are also shown at their true-to-scale average distances from the Sun. That makes this page rather large - on an ordinary 72 dpi monitor it's just over half a mile wide, making it possibly one of the largest pages on the web. This means you'll have to do a bit of scrolling if you want to find the planets, but don't despair. They are reasonably bright and labeled, so you can probably catch them flashing by in the blackness even if you are scrolling fairly fast.

Found on Information Aesthetics.

Comments

[Gabriel Sobande, Solar Alnergy Maryland]

Whoahhh! The sun is really big compared to the Earth. But indeed sun helps us with our daily lives. Putting light unto life activities. Somehow The sun solar power provides solar energy we can use for the daily routines. More power coming from renewable source of energy and less cost.

[Tommy French the Solar Guy]

AHAHA, that was a lot of scrolling, good find. I've never been able to examine the length of our solar system like that before.

[Dr. Ben - Solar Inventor]

It is very interesting to see the plants to scale with the correct distances. No wonder they don't show this version in science classes!

[Priscillar the Projector Chick]

I remember seeing a scaled representation of the solar system at the planetarium as a child. Even now it's hard to get the mind around it, not to mention what's beyond our little neighborhood!