Solar System model
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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 is almost 12,000 times the diameter of the Earth.
If the smaller planets are to be easily visible to the naked eye, large outdoor spaces are generally necessary, as is some means for highlighting objects that might otherwise not be noticed from a distance. The Boston Museum of Science placed models of the planets in major public buildings, all on similar stands with interpretive material. For example, the model of Jupiter, shown, is located in the cavernous South Station waiting area. The properly scaled, basket-ball sized model is 1.3 miles (2.14 km) from the model Sun which is located at the museum, graphically illustrating the immense empty space in the Solar System.
The objects in such large models do not move. Traditional orreries often did move and some used clockworks to make the relative speeds of objects accurate. These can be thought of as being correctly scaled in time instead of distance.
Permanent true scale models
Many towns and institutions have built outdoor scale models of the Solar System. Here is a table comparing these models with the actual system.
| Name | Location | Scale | Sun dia. | Earth dia. | Sun–Earth | Sun–Pluto | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual Solar System | 1:1 | 1.392 Gm | 12.76 Mm | 149.6 Gm | 5.914 Tm | ||
| Sweden Solar System |  Sweden | 1:20,000,000 | 71 m | 65 cm | 7,600 m | 300 km | permanent; country-wide (begun 1998) |
| Solar System Drive |  Coonabarabran, Australia | 1:38,000,000 | 37 m | 34 cm | 4,100 m | 205 km | permanent; drivable (est. 1997) |
| Maine Solar System |  University of Maine | 1:93,000,000 | 15 m | 13.7 cm | 1,600 m | 64 km | permanent; drivable (est.2003) |
| Mont Megantic Dark Sky Reserve Great Solar System |  Parc national du Mont-Mégantic | 1:100,000,000 | 14 m | 12.4 m | 1,450 m | 57 km | permanent; drivable (est.2018) |
| Riverfront Museum Solar System | Peoria, Illinois | 1:125,000,000 | 11 m | 10.0 cm | 1,200 m | 47 km | permanent; drivable (est. 1992?) |
| Vienna Solar System |  Vienna, Austria | 1:163,764,706 | 8.5 m | 7.78 cm | 913 m | 36 km | under construction since 2018. Physical + Augmented Reality |
| Planet Lofoten |  Lofoten, Norway | 1:200,000,000 | 7 m | ? | ? | 30 km | under construction |
| Planet Trek Dane County | Madison, Wisconsin | 1:200,000,000 | 7 m | 6.6 cm | 777 m | 38.3 km | permanent; fully accessible by foot and bike paths (est. 2009) |
| Sunspot Solar System Model | Sunspot, New Mexico | 1:250,000,000 | 5.6 m | 5.1 cm | 1.5 m | 23,6 km | permanent, drivable |
| If the Earth were a Ping-Pong ball[citation needed] |  Westminster, London | 1:318,905,000 | 4.36 m | 40 mm | ? | ? | In construction; Walk & Drive (est. 2018) Centered around Deans Yard, Westminster |
| Light Speed Planet Walk | Anchorage, Alaska | 1:350,000,000 | ? | ? | 16.6 km | permanent; drivable (est. 2005) | |
| Moab's Scale Model of the Solar System | Moab, Utah | 1:400,000,000 | 3.6 m | ? | ? | 15.3 km | permanent; Walk and Drive (est. 2007) |
| Community Solar System Trail | Boston, Massachusetts | 1:400,000,000 | 3.5 m | 3.2 cm | 380 m | 15.3 km | permanent; drivable |
| The Solar System to Scale |  Estremoz, Portugal | 1:414,000,000 | 3.4 m | 3.1 cm | 361 m | 14.3 km | permanent; drivable; bikeable |
| Somerset Space Walk | Bridgwater Canal, Somerset UK | 1:530,000,000 | 2.5 m | ? cm | ? m | 11 km | permanent; bikeable (est. 1997) |
| York’s Solar System model | York, England | 1:575,872,239 | 2.4 m | 2.2 cm | 260 m | 10.3 km | permanent; bikeable (est. 1999) |
| Traverse Bay Community Solar System | Traverse City, Michigan | 1:592,763,356 | 0.9 m | 0.9 m | 209 m | 10.0 km | permanent; bikeable (est. 2004) |
| Michigan Solar System Model | Coleman, Michigan | 1:608,000,000 | 2.3 m | 2.1 cm | 324 m | 9.8 km | permanent; bike trail Sun and Pls. Spheres (2017) |
| Nine Views |  Zagreb, Croata | 1:680,000,000 | 2.0 m | 1.9 cm | 225 m | 8.7 km | permanent; bikeable (est. 2004) |
| Walk the Solar System | Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada | 1:682,353,000 | 2.0 m | 1.9 cm | 219 m | 8.6 km | under construction |
| McCarthy Observatory | New Milford, Connecticut | 1:761,155,000 | 1.8 m | 1.7 cm | 195 m | 7.1 km | permanent; bikeable (est. 2009) |
| Planet Walk | Glen Burnie, Maryland. | 1:781,000,000 | ? | ? | 191.5 m | 7.56 km | Walkable, bikeable (est. 2008). Part of the permanent Baltimore & Annapolis Trail. |
| Trilho do Sistema Solar | Paredes de Coura, Portugal | 1:831,000,000 | 1.675 m | 1.533 cm | 180 m | 5.42 km (Neptune) | permanent; walkable; bikeable (est. 2016) |
| Planetenpad Utrecht |  Utrecht, Netherlands | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.3 m | 1.3 cm | 150 m | 7.4 km (Neptune) | Leads from Centre Utrecht to Rhijnauwen, on foot, on bike or on kayak |
| Model of the Solar System |  Helsinki, Finland | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.2 cm | 149.6 m | 6.1 km | permanent; bikeable |
| Planetenmodell Hagen |  Hagen, Germany | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.3 cm | 150 m | 5.9 km | permanent; bikeable (est. 1959) |
| Planetenweg Schwarzbach | Kriftel, Germany | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.3 cm | 150 m | 5.9 km | permanent; bikeable (est. 1998) |
| Uetliberg Planetenweg |  Zurich, Switzerland | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.3 cm | 150 m | 5.9 km | permanent; bikeable |
| Planetenwanderweg | Ehrenfriedersdorf, Germany | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.3 cm | 150 m | 5.9 km | permanent; bikeable |
| Planetary Trail |  Hradec Králové, Czech Republic | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.3 cm | 150 m | 5.9 km | permanent; bikeable (est. 2005) |
| Planetary Trail | Prague, Czech Republic | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.3 cm | 150 m | 13 km (Sedna as discovered) (Pluto 5.9 km) | permanent; bike & walk; all objects above 1000km; (est. 13.5.2018) |
| Melbourne Solar System | Melbourne, Australia | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.3 cm | 150 m | 5.9 km | permanent; bikeable (est. 2008) |
| Scale Model Solar System | Eugene, Oregon | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.2 cm | 150 m | 5.9 km | permanent; bikeable (est. 1997) |
| Planetstien, Sandnes | Sandnes, Norway | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.2 cm | 150 m | 5.9 km | permanent; walkable, bikeable (est. 2010) |
| Planetstien, Lemvig |  Lemvig, Denmark | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.2 cm | 150 m | 5.9 km | permanent; walkable |
| Planet Walk | Munich, Germany | 1:1,290,000,000 | 1.1 m | 1.0 cm | 116 m | 4.6 km | permanent; walkable (est. 1995) |
| Strolling at the speed of light | La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada | 1:1,500,000,000 | 0.9 m | 0.8 cm | 100 m | 3 km (Neptune) | permanent; walkable (est. 2009) (temp?) |
| Rymdpromenaden ("Spacewalk") | Gothenburg, Sweden | 1:2,000,000,000 | 0.7 m | 0.6 cm | 75 m | 3 km | permanent; walkable (est. 1978) |
| Akaa Solar System Scale Model | Akaa, Finland | 1:3,000,000,000 | 0.46 m | 0.4 cm | 49.9 m | 1,958 m | permanent; walkable (est. 2017), Proxima Centauri in Yulara, Australia |
| Elmhurst Scale Model of the Solar System | Elmhurst, Illinois | 1:3,044,620,000 | 0.5 m | 0.4 cm | 49.1 m | 1,929 m | permanent; walk & drive (est. 2013) |
| Wooster Planet Walk | Wooster, Ohio | 1:5,000,000,000 | 0.3 m | 0.3 cm | 30 m | 1.2 km | permanent; walkable (est. 2014) |
| Meteoria Söderfjärden | Vaasa, Finland | 1:2,000,000,000 | 0.7 m | permanent; walkable | |||
| Planetenweg Göttingen | Göttingen, Germany | 1:2,000,000,000 | 0.70 m | 0.65 cm | 75 m | 3.2 km | permanent; walkable/bikeable (est. 2013) |
| Solar System Walking Tour | Gainesville, Georgia | 1:2,000,000,000 | 0.7 m | 0.6 cm | 75 m | 2.9 km | permanent; walkable (est. 2000) |
| Montshire Museum of Science | Norwich, Vermont | 1:2,200,000,000 | 0.6 m | 0.6 cm | 68 m | 2.7 km | permanent; walkable |
| Ride to Pluto: Boise's Solar System | Boise Greenbelt, Boise, Idaho | 1:2,200,000,000 | 0.5 m | n/a | 2.4 km | permanent; walkable & bikeable; | |
| The Solar walk | Longview, Washington | 1:? | 0.6 m | 0.6 cm | ? m | 2.7 km | permanent; walkable (est. 2001) |
| Milky Way path | Westerbork, The Netherlands | 1:3,700,000,000 | ? | ? | ? | 2.5 km | permanent; walkable |
| Solar Walk | Gainesville, Florida | 1:4,000,000,000 | 0.3 m | 0.3 cm | 37.4 m | 1.5 km | permanent; walkable (est. 2002) |
| Otford Solar System Model | Otford, England | 1:4,595,700,000 | 0.3 m | 0.3 cm | 32 m | 0.9 km | permanent; walkable |
| The Sagan Planet Walk | Ithaca, New York | 1:5,000,000,000 | 0.3 m | 0.3 cm | 30 m | 1.2 km | permanent; walkable (est. 1997) |
| Delmar Loop Planet Walk | University City, Missouri | 1:5,000,000,000 | 0.3 m | 0.2 cm | 30 m | 0.87 km (Neptune) | permanent; walkable (est. 2009) |
| The Solar Walk | Cleveland, Ohio | 1:5,280,000,000 | 0.3 m | 0.2 cm | 28.4 m | 1.1 km | permanent; walkable |
| Solar System Walk An Exploration of Scale | Carlsbad, California | 1:5,280,000,000 | 28 m | 1,119 m | Located near Lake Calavera [Trailhead] | ||
| O Sistema Solar no Parque |  Natal, Brazil | 1:7,000,000,000 | 20 cm | 1.8 mm | 22 m | 875 m | permanent; walkable/bikeable (est. June 3rd, 2016) |
| Voyage | National Mall, Washington, D.C. (2001) Kansas City, Missouri(2008)}} | 1:10,000,000,000 | 0.1 m | 0.1 cm | 15 m | 0.6 km | |
| NJ Botanical Garden | Ringwood, New Jersey | 1:10,000,000,000 | 0.2 m | 2.0 cm | 23.8 m | 927 m | walkable |
| Colorado Scale Model Solar System | Fiske Planetarium, Boulder, Colorado | 1:10,000,000,000 | 0.1 m | 0.1 cm | 15 m | 0.6 km | permanent; walkable (est. 1987) |
| Anstruther Model Solar System | Anstruther, Scotland | 1:10,000,000,000 | 0.1 m | 0.1 cm | 15 m | 0.6 km | permanent; walkable (est. 2014) |
| Le Chemin Solaire |  La Couyère, Brittany | 1:10,000,000,000 | 1 m | 0.1 cm | - | 0.45 km | permanent; walkable (est. 2011) |
| Solar Walk UofT Scarborough | Toronto, Ontario and Eureka, Nunavut | 1:10,000,000,000 | 0.14 m | 0.13 cm | 15 m | 0.591 km | permanent; walkable/bikeable (est. 2017) |
| Grand Trunk Pathway Solar System Model | Terrace, British Columbia | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.3 cm | 150 m | 6 km | permanent; walkable/bikeable (est. 2018) |
Other Models of the Solar System: historic, temporary, virtual, or dual-scale
| Name | Location | Scale | Sun dia. | Earth dia. | Sun-Earth | Sun-Pluto | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirkhill model 1776 |  Scotland | 1:778,268,620.8 | 1.8 m | 1.6 cm | 197 m | - | decayed |
| Planetenpad Utrecht | Utrecht, Netherlands | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1,3 m | 1.3 cm | 150 m | 7.4 km (Neptune) | Leads from Centre Utrecht to Rhijnauwen, on foot, on bike or on kayak |
| Sorghvliet | The Hague, Netherlands | 1:696,000,000 | 2.0 m | 1.8 cm | 215 m | 6.5 km (Neptune) | (temporary) |
| Sol Chicago | Illinois, Chicago | 1:73,660,000 | 19 m | 17.3 cm | 2,050 m | 61 km (Neptune) | (temporary) proposed |
| Le Chemin des planètes | Saint-Luc, Switzerland | 1:1,000,000,000 | 1.4 m | 1.3 cm | 150 m | 5.9 km | uses two different scales for distance and size |
| The Madison Planet Stroll | Madison, Wisconsin | 1:4,000,000,000 | 0.3 m | 0.3 cm | 37 m | 1.5 km | (virtual) |
| Solar System Stroll | Perth, Western Australia | 1:5,000,000,000 | 0.3 m | 0.3 cm | 30 m | 1.2 km | permanent; walkable (est. 2016) |
| The Thousand-Yard Model | (virtual) | 1:6,336,000,000 | 0.2 m | 0.2 cm | 25 m | 1 km | (virtual) |
| (dismantled) | Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Quebec | 1:10,000,000,000 | 0.1 m | 0.1 cm | 15 m | 0.6 km | (dismantled) (est. 1985) |
| Lafayette Walk | Detroit, Michigan | 1:6,336,000,000 | 23 cm | 0.2 cm | 25 m | 983 m | A Walking Demonstration of (un)imaginable distances. "It's nowhere near Graham's Number." |
| Planets on the Path | Chicago, Illinois | 1:2,195,000,000 | 457 m | 11.4 m | (2015, temporary) | ||
| The Solar System, to scale, for a school yard | PDF for printing | 1:11,945,400,000 | 11.6 cm | 0.1 cm | 12.5 m | 492 m | PDFs, A4 and 8½″×11″, to be printed, affixed to cards which are affixed to sticks; then to be held by children standing in a school yard. Includes major moons and asteroids. |
Several sets of geocaching caches have been laid out as solar system models.
A model based on a classroom globe
If the Earth were reduced to the size of a typical classroom globe, 41 cm (16 inches) in diameter, the Moon would be a 10 cm (4 in) baseball floating 12 metres (40 feet) away. The Sun would be 14 stories tall (somewhat smaller than the Spaceship Earth ride at Epcot) floating 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away. While a complete model to this scale has never been built, a Solar System built centered in Washington DC, London, or Sydney, to that scale (approximately 1:31 000 000) would look like this:
| Body | Diameter | object comparison | Semi-major axis | scale model location (U.S.) | scale model location (U.K.) | scale model location (Australia) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | 44.6 m (146 ft) | 14 story tall sphere, Spaceship Earth (Epcot) | zero | White House, Washington DC | Buckingham Palace | Sydney Opera House |
| Mercury | 15 cm (6 in) | large grapefruit | 1.9 km (1.2 mi) | National Air and Space Museum | Covent Garden | Elizabeth Bay |
| Venus | 38 cm (15 in) | beach ball | 3.5 km (2.2 mi) | John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame, Arlington National Cemetery | Regent's Park | Sydney Football Stadium |
| Earth | 41 cm (16 in) | classroom globe | 4.8 km (3.0 mi) | Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport | Tower of London | Rozelle Hospital |
| Moon | 10 cm (4 in) | baseball | 12 m (40 ft) from Earth | |||
| Mars | 23 cm (9 in) | dodgeball | 7.2 km (4.5 mi) | Rock Creek Park Golf Course | King's College London | Bondi Beach |
| Ceres | 3 cm (1 in) | golf ball | 13.3 km (8.3 mi) | West Falls Church Metro station | London City Airport | Macquarie University |
| Jupiter | 4.55 m (15 ft) | Commercial van | 24.9 km (15.5 mi) | George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia | Heathrow Airport | Scotland Island |
| Saturn | 3.81 m (12 ft 6 in) | Roundabout (merry-go-round) | 45.5 km (28.3 mi) | Marine Corps Base Quantico, Triangle, Virginia | Luton | Copacabana |
| Uranus | 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) | average 8th grade boy | 92.2 km (57.3 mi) | Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, Maryland | Waterlooville | Bombo |
| Neptune | 1.55 m (5 ft 1 in) | average 6th grade boy | 144.4 km (89.7 mi) | Newark, Delaware | Leicester | Nelson Bay |
| Pluto | 7 cm (3 in) | baseball | 190 km (118 mi) | Wildwood, New Jersey | Hereford | Bulahdelah |
| Eris | 8 cm (3 in) | baseball | 325 km (202 mi) | Brooklyn, New York | Blackpool | Port Macquarie |
| Heliopause | 571 km (355 mi) | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Stirling, Scotland | Cobar, New South Wales | ||
| α Centauri A | 49.5 m (162 ft) | Spaceship Earth (Epcot) | 1,323,500 km (822,400 mi) | over 3 times the distance to the Moon | over 3 times the distance to the Moon | over 3 times the distance to the Moon |
If the scale of the above model is increased to 1:310 000 000, i.e. all distances and sizes reduced by a factor of 10, then the Earth and Venus can be modeled by ping pong balls, the Moon and smaller planets by various size marbles or lumps of modeling clay, the gas giants by balloons or larger playing balls, and a circle the diameter of the Sun can be drawn on the floor of most classrooms. The scale distance to Alpha Centauri would be 1/3 of the way to the Moon.
Some planetaria and related museums often use a scale model of the Solar System featuring a planetarium dome representing the Sun. Examples of this can be seen in planetaria like the Adler Planetarium, the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, the Clark Planetarium, the Griffith Observatory, the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum, the Adventure Science Center, etc.
A commonly-portrayed scale model of the Solar System would use fruits of varying sizes to represent the planets: The Sun would be represented by an adult human, Mercury would be represented by a pea, Venus by a cherry or a grape, Earth by a strawberry or an apricot, the Moon by a peppercorn, Mars by a blueberry, Jupiter by a watermelon or a medium-sized pumpkin, Saturn by a grapefruit or a large melon like a cantaloupe or a honeydew, Uranus by an apple or an orange, and Neptune by a lime or a plum.
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