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Scaling the Solar System: Intermediate Version
Purpose:
To help appreciate the vast size of the solar system, how far apart the planets are from
each other, and how far away the nearest stars are.
What You Need to Do:
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In the table below, you’ll see:
o the distances of the nine planets from the Sun in km (Col 2)
o the distances relative to the Earth (e.g. Jupiter is 5.2x further than the
Earth from the Sun) (Col 3)
o Using a scale of 1cm = 3,000,000 km (3 million km), planetary distances
have been calculated in “scaled cm” (and also in m) in the fourth column
Each person take a “planet card”
The string is taped at 1m intervals. Take the string to the hallway outside, and put
your planet at (roughly) the right place
Marvel at the vastness of the cosmos! Weep at the majesty of our Universe!
Celestial Object
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Sedna
Alpha Centauri
Distance from Sun
in millions of km
0
57.9
108.2
149.6
227.9
778.3
1431.9
2877.4
4497.8
5914.7
Distance from Sun
Relative to Earth
0
0.39
0.72
1.00
1.52
5.20
9.57
19.19
30.07
39.5
Distance from Sun in
“scaled cm” (m)
0
19.3
(0.19)
36.1
(0.36)
50.0
(0.50)
76.0
(0.76)
259.4 (2.6)
477.3 (4.8)
959.1 (9.6)
1499.3 (15.0)
1971.6 (19.7)
13,500—135,000
3.8x107
90—900
250,000
4500-45,000 (45-450)
~125 km!
Extensions and Questions:
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Sedna is a Pluto-sized object discovered in 2004, and currently the most distant
object we have found in our Solar System. For fun, we have calculated how far
away it would be on our scale: between 45-450m (it has a very elliptical orbit).
Alpha Centauri is the closest star to us at ~4 light years away. On the same
scale, Alpha Centauri would be ~125 km away! What hope do we have of visiting
even the nearest stars?
How do we know the distances to the planets? How do we know the distances to
the nearest stars?
On the same scale, the Sun, with a diameter of 1.4 million km, would be about 0.5
cm across. Jupiter would be 0.5 mm across, and the Earth would be 0.05mm!
How many Earths could you line up across the Sun? How many Earths could
you fit inside the Sun?