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The Sun
The sun is the star at the center
of our solar system. It contains
nearly 99.9% of all the matter in
the entire solar system. It is a
giant spinning ball of plasma
whose energy is produced deep
in the core by nuclear fusion
reactions.
Mass – 330,000 times Earth’s
mass
Diameter – 110 times Earth’s
diameter
Rotational Period (“day”) – 25.4
Earth days
On the scale of this exhibit, the
sun would be approximately
this size (.55 inch):
⃝
Mercury
Mercury is a small, dense
planet a little bigger than
Earth’s Moon. Even though
Mercury is the planet closest
to the Sun, it is not the
hottest.
Diameter – 38% of Earth’s
diameter (3,030 miles)
Period of orbit (“year”) – 88
Earth days
Average distance from sun –
39% of Earth’s distance (36
million miles)
Light travel time from Sun –
3.2 minutes
On this scale, Mercury
would be the size of this
period (.002 inch):
.
Venus
Venus is very similar in size and
composition to the Earth. Its
dense atmosphere and
proximity to the Sun make its
surface the hottest in the Solar
System.
Diameter – 95% of Earth’s
diameter (7,520 miles)
Period of orbit (“year”) – 225
Earth days
Average distance from sun –
72% of Earth’s distance (67
million miles)
Light travel time from Sun – 6.0
minutes
On this scale, Venus would be
the size of this period (.005
inch):
.
Earth
Earth is our home planet. For
many centuries it was assumed to
be the center of the universe, but
it is now known to be just one
planet orbiting the sun. The first
images of Earth from space were
taken in 1946. This famous photo
called The Blue Marble was taken
by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972.
Diameter – 7,930 miles
Period of orbit – 1.0 year
(365.2425 days)
Average distance from sun – 93
million miles (1 astronomical unit)
Light travel time from Sun – 8.3
minutes
On this scale, Earth would be the
size of this period:
.
Mars
Mars, the red planet, has
familiar features including ice
caps, volcanos, canyons, and
seasons. Plans are being made
by NASA and others to visit
Mars in the next few decades.
Diameter – 53% of Earth’s
diameter (4,220 miles)
Period of orbit (“year”) – 1.88
Earth years
Average distance from sun –
1.52 times Earth’s distance (142
million miles)
Light travel time from Sun –
12.7 minutes
On this scale, Mars would be
the size of this period (.003
inch):
.
The Asteroid
Belt and Ceres
Ceres, a dwarf planet, is the largest
member of the Asteroid Belt, which
contains hundreds of thousands of
smaller, irregularly shaped objects.
Some of these occasionally reach
Earth as meteorites. Ceres has large
quantities of salty ice and water on
its surface. It is probably a protoplanet whose growth halted early in
the history of our solar system.
Diameter – 7.5% of Earth’s diameter
(610 miles)
Period of orbit (“year”) – 4.6 Earth
years
Average distance from sun – 2.77
times Earth’s distance (260 million
miles)
Light travel time from Sun – 23.3
minutes
On this scale, Ceres would be the
size of this period (.0004 inch):
.
Jupiter
Jupiter is more than twice as
massive as all the other planets
combined and made mostly of
hydrogen and helium, like the
Sun. Its system of moons includes
a fascinating variety of volcanic
and watery worlds, some of
which are large enough to be
considered planets if they orbited
the Sun.
Diameter – 11.2 times Earth’s
diameter (88,840 miles)
Period of orbit (“year”) – 11.9
Earth years
Average distance from sun – 5.2
times Earth’s distance (484 million
miles)
Light travel time from Sun – 43.2
minutes
On this scale, Jupiter would be
the size of this dot ( .06 inch):
ᴏ
Saturn
Saturn, a “gas giant” like Jupiter, is
most famous for its rings, which
are more than 155,000 miles in
diameter but only about ½ mile
thick. It has a large collection of
interesting moons, including
Titan, which has oceans and
clouds of methane circling in a
weather system with similarities
to Earth’s.
Diameter – 9.5% of Earth’s
diameter (74,900 miles)
Period of orbit (“year”) – 29.5
Earth years
Average distance from sun – 9.6
times Earth’s distance (887 million
miles)
Light travel time from Sun – 1
hours 19 minutes
On this scale, Saturn would be the
size of this dot (.05 inch):
ᴏ
Uranus
Like Saturn, Uranus has rings,
but the whole Uranus system –
its rings, its moons, and even
the spin of the planet itself – is
tipped more than 90 degrees
from the horizontal.
Diameter – 4 times Earth’s
diameter (31,770 miles)
Period of orbit (“year”) – 84
Earth years
Average distance from sun –
19.2 times Earth’s distance
(1,780 million miles)
Light travel time from Sun – 1
hour 40 minutes
On this scale, Uranus would be
the size of this period (.02 inch):
.
Neptune
Neptune and Uranus are “ice
giant” planets because water,
ammonia, and methane ices
make up much of their mass.
Neptune has the solar system’s
fastest winds, as high as 1,250
mph.
Diameter – 3.9 times Earth’s
diameter (30,780 miles)
Period of orbit (“year”) – 165
Earth years
Average distance from sun –
30.1 times Earth’s distance
(2,790 million miles)
Light travel time from Sun – 3
hours 10 minutes
On this scale, Neptune would
be the size of this period (.02
inch):
.
The Kuiper
Belt and Pluto
Pluto is one of many objects in the
Kuiper Belt, which lies beyond the
orbit of Neptune and is still largely
unexplored. Since 1930 when Pluto
was discovered and designated the 9th
planet, even larger objects have been
discovered in the Kuiper Belt, and in
2006 Pluto was downgraded to a
“dwarf planet”.
Diameter – 19% of Earth’s diameter
(1,430 miles)
Period of orbit (“year”) – 248 Earth
years
Average distance from sun – 39.2
times Earth’s distance (3,680 million
miles)
Light travel time from Sun – 6 hours 50
minutes
On this scale, Mercury would be the
size of this period (001 inch):
.
More about Pluto
Pluto’s orbit is very unusual.
It is tilted out of the plane
of the orbits of all the
planets and it is more
elliptical. In fact, at its
nearest to the sun
(perihelion), Pluto’s orbit
brings it inside Neptune’s
orbit, and at its farthest
(aphelion) it is 4½ billion
miles from the sun, more
than 50% farther away than
Neptune.
Look through the telescope
to locate the dot on the side
of the parking garage that
represents Pluto’s distance
from the sun at aphelion.
Distances and Diameters
The first number is the number of miles.
The second is the number of feet or inches in this exhibit.
Distances from the center
Sun – 0 – 0
Mercury – 36 million miles – 1.9’
Venus – 67 million miles – 3.5’
Earth – 93 million miles – 4.8’
Mars – 142 million miles – 7.4’
Ceres – 260 million miles – 13.5’
Jupiter – 484 million miles – 25.2’
Saturn – 887 million miles – 46.2’
Uranus – 1,784 million miles – 93’
Neptune – 2,794 million miles – 145.6’
Pluto – 4,586 million miles – 239’
Diameters
Sun – 864,949 miles - .55”
Mercury – 3,031 miles - .002”
Venus – 7,521 miles - .005”
Earth – 7,926 miles - .005”
Mars – 4,217 miles - .003”
Ceres – 609 miles - .0004”
Jupiter – 88,844 miles - .06”
Saturn – 74,900 miles - .05”
Uranus – 31,765 miles - .02”
Neptune – 30,777 miles - .02”
Pluto – 1,429 miles - .001”
The Solar System
This representation of the solar system,
at a scale of approximately 20 million
miles to 1 foot, shows the relative
distances of the planets and other
major objects. The sizes of the objects
are also calculated but -- aside from the
sun, Jupiter and Saturn -- at this scale
they would all be smaller than a grain of
sand.