Download Solar System Scale Handout

Solar System Scale Project
Name: ________________________
______ /5
Our solar system is huge. There is a lot of empty space out there between the planets. Voyager 1, the most distant human- made
object, has been in space for more than 25 years and it still has not escaped the influence of our Sun. As of July 19, 2004, Voyager 1
was about 8,574,922,450 mi from the Sun - more than twice the distance from the Sun to icy Pluto.
Needless to say, our solar system doesn't fit real well on paper.
Scientists figured out a while ago that writing out those huge numbers wasn't the best use of their time so they invented the
Astronomical Unit (AU). One AU - _______________________ (Use the table below to find this number) represents the average
distance from the Sun to the Earth. It would take an airliner more than 20 years to fly that distance - and that's just a one-way ticket.
(That's traveling at about 644 km per hour.)
In another effort to bring these vast distances down to Earth, we've shrunk the solar system down to the size of a football field.
Complete the table below to figure out how the solar system would layout on a football field.
Conversion Key
Object
Distance
from Sun
(mi)
Distance
from Sun
(AU)
Scale
Distance
(yd)
Diameter
(mi)
Scale
Diameter
(in)
Conversions to Scaling
Sun
0
0
0
870,000
36
1 AU = __________________ yd
Mercury
36,252,796
0.39
0.78
3,031
1 AU = __________________mi
1 mi = __________________ in
Venus
0.72
7,521
Earth
1.0
7,926
Mars
1.5
4,222
Jupiter
5.2
88,729
Saturn
9.5
74,600
Uranus
19.2
32,600
Neptune
30.1
30,200
Pluto
39.5
1,413
Planet (and Dwarf Planet) Scale Drawings
If the Sun was represented with as a sphere is a diameter of 36 in (1 yd) this is how big each planet (and Pluto) would be.
Mercury
Jupiter
Venus
Earth
Saturn
Mars
Pluto
Uranus
Neptune