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Investigate Distances
How far apart are the planets?
MATERIALS: roll of adding machine tape, pencil, compass, distance table
PROCEDURE
1.
2.
3.
4.
Mark the end of the roll of paper as the location of the Sun. Draw the Sun
and label it.
Use the Distance Table data sheet to mark the distances for the rest of the
solar system. Be sure to start from the Sun for each measurement.
Draw in and color each planet. Be sure to make the planets the correct
relative size in relation to each other and the correct colors.
Feel free to add in some extras – the asteroid belt, Moons, Hubble space
telescope, etc.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
1. How does the distance between Earth and Mars compare with the distance
between Saturn and Uranus?
2. How would you use the spacing to sort the planets into groups?
CHALLENGE
If it took two years for the Voyager 2 spacecraft to travel from Earth to Jupiter,
about how long do you think it took for Voyager 2 to travel from Jupiter to
Neptune?
Object
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Scale: 1 mm = 1 Million Kilometers
Position from the Sun
(Millions of Kilometers)
0.0
58
108
150
228
778
1427
2870
4497
Planetary Distance Table
ANSWER KEY
What Do You Think?
1. The distance between Saturn and Uranus is much longer (roughly 20 times).
2. The planets that are relatively close together form the inner solar system and the ones that
have huge distances between them form the outer solar system.
Challenge
It would take about 6 times as long, or about 12 more years. (Actual time was 10 years.)