Download 9/29/16 pacing planet distance

Sample Lesson: Interplanetary Hike
ASTRONOMY
LESSON 6
Let's explore the solar system by walking through a SCALE MODEL of
it. Each step you take will stand for 30,000,000 miles in the real solar
system. This activity will be more fun with a friend to help you.
WHAT YOU NEED: 11 objects to mark the planets, sun and
moon. In Home Science Adventures we provide little flags, but you
can make flags from index cards and pencils, or just use balls, or
folded index cards to mark the planets.
WHAT TO DO: Find a place outside where you can
take a hundred steps in a straight line. Place the Sun at the
beginning of this line. Now pace off the distances to each
planet as shown in the last column of the distance table on
the next page.
Imagine you are a spaceship headed out across the solar
system.Then, walk across your entire solar system. When you get to Pluto,
turn around and try to see the Earth and Sun. From Pluto the Sun would be
so far away, it would look like little more than a bright star.
The nearest star to our sun is Alpha Centauri, about 93 million miles away. It is actually a triple-star system — three
stars bound together by gravity.
Compared to our paces of the solar system, it would be just north of Grand Rapids, Michigan, about 385 miles away. It
would take us a little more than 6 hours to drive there.
Sun - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
DISTANCE
TABLE
Distance to the
Sun
Total steps
from SUN
Pace off the solar system
like this:
SUN
0 miles
0
START HERE
Mercury
36 million miles
1
1 step to Mercury
Venus
67 million miles
2
1 more step to Venus
Earth & Moon
93 million miles
3
1 more to Earth & moon*
Mars
142 million miles
4
1 more to Mars
Jupiter
483 million miles
13
9 more to Jupiter
Saturn
885 million miles
25
12 more to Saturn
Uranus
1.8 billion miles
50
25 more to Uranus
Neptune
2.8 billion miles
78
28 more to Neptune
Pluto
3.7 billion miles
103
25 more to Pluto
*The moon goes right next to the Earth, about this far
away:
About the width of your little finger.
Think of that! That is the farthest that
mankind has ever traveled!
What would it take to walk to the stars?
The nearest star is the Sun, so that's about 3 paces from earth.
The next closest star is Alpha Centauri.
To reach Alpha Centauri, you would have to take a lot of paces.
In fact, you would have to pace for 200 miles!
When you are done, please remember to pick up your flags.
Notes from the Parent Guide
ASTRONOMY LESSON 6
An Interplanetary Hike
Lesson Notes: If weather absolutely forbids
doing this outside, you could do it inside with a
ruler. Change “steps” to “inches”. (However,
it’s more meaningful outdoors, as the distances
are more impressive.)
Objectives: Through completing this lesson the
child will: 1) Gain an appreciation of the
vastness of distances between the planets;
2) Compare these distances to the greatest
distances that humans have ever traveled.
Further Explorations (optional):
• Given the distances, it would take a long time
to travel through space, especially beyond our
solar system. What kinds of things would you
put in your spaceship to make the trip more
enjoyable?
©2006 by Stratton House
Just for fun: You can find a Basque translation of this activity
atscience.webhostinggeeks.com. They have other interesting stuff, too!