Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

Summary:

Most people don't realize just how mind-bogglingly big space is.

Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

Syera 25 Jul 2011 02:34

Here you go. Now go boggle at it.

Edit: This may not display correctly in all browsers. If the sun and all the planets are all one one page (ie, you don't have to scroll to see them all), your browser isn't displaying it correctly.

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When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Last edited on 25 Jul 2011 22:56 by Syera Show more

Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

Alene Y 25 Jul 2011 02:55

Keep in mind though, that is only accurately proportioned for the relative sizes, and not even remotely near the relative distances.

Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

Syera 25 Jul 2011 03:09

I'm pretty sure it does show the relative distances correctly. The description of the page from the website:

I've always been fascinated by the mind-boggling scale of celestial distances. I created this page to show the relative sizes and orbital distances (average) of the sun and nine planets. The page is nearly 6 million pixels wide (1 pixel = 1000 km). [Originally created as a study for an upcoming Flash tool, this page was picked up by a number of sites on the Web, nearly maxing out my site's traffic quota. I need to rebuild it to display correctly in IE7.]

This is a similar page, and it definitely is in scale in both size and distance. (Phil Plait said so. :P)

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When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

KAM1 (guest) 25 Jul 2011 03:18

So is this a good thing or bad thing lol.

Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

Tomy2011 25 Jul 2011 03:24

Hey, I practically can't see any planet! Only the sun. Is this supposed to be fun?

Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

Alene Y 25 Jul 2011 03:55

Sorry, but it doesn't. If the distances were like that, we would be totally fried. The only thing showing on the daylight side would be the Sun. It would cover all the sky we could see.
If you read the text on your similar page link, they say that, although they have the distance to scale, it makes the page a half mile wide before you can see any planets.

The diameter of the Sun is about 1.4 million kilometers. The distance from the Sun to the Earth is about 150 million km. As you can see, the Sun is taking up the entire left side of the diagram. It would have to show the Earth 107 times as far away.

Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

bikenbeer2000 25 Jul 2011 12:47

Alene, instead of using the 'jump to planet' option or moving the slider along the bottom of the browser window, try starting from the Sun and clicking to the right of the slider in order to move the view across one screen at a time. On the resolution of my monitor, it takes 156 'screens' before the Earth is reached, which seems to me to be about right and to scale.

Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

Alene Y 25 Jul 2011 17:47

That's what I meant, Bikenbeer. The picture at the first link only shows relative sizes, not relative distances between them. Earth shows only about an inch or less away from the Sun. On the second link, the text actually says that it would be a half mile to the nearest planet.

Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

TheGreatJuju 25 Jul 2011 19:54

The picture at the first link only shows relative sizes, not relative distances between them. Earth shows only about an inch or less away from the Sun.

Maybe your browser is automatically resizing the page to fit? On my screen, I have to scroll for days at both links. The second page says that the distance to scale is half a mile wide, then boasting that the result is perhaps one of the largest pages on the Web (which seems reasonable!).

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Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

JamesJJlm 25 Jul 2011 21:07

Yeah mine just comes up with all of them on one page. Internet Explorer 8 seems to not work, but Chrome worked fine.

Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

Alene Y 25 Jul 2011 21:21

Yes, James. That's what mine does. The second link shows only the Sun with the text mentioned by Juju.

Anyway, my original point was referring to the picture that shows the Sun and the planets all on one page. I didn't want the kids who see that to get the idea that the distances in the one that shows all the planets is anywhere near being to scale in relation to the Sun and planets as shown.

Last edited on 25 Jul 2011 21:26 by Alene Y Show more

Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

bikenbeer2000 26 Jul 2011 00:58

I wondered why we seemed to be at cross-purposes.
The original link at the top of this page directs to: http://www.troybrophy.com/projects/solarsystem/
but you're talking about: http://www.troybrophy.com/projects/solarsystem/planetaryscale.html
I'm mystified as to why different browsers should show different pages.

Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

Alene Y 26 Jul 2011 01:58

No, I got the same picture with all the planets in a straight line outward from the Sun on the first link you give.

On the 2nd one, the planets are sort of aligned vertically next to the Sun.

That is strange that different browsers show different pages.

Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

Tomy2011 26 Jul 2011 02:12

Mine is Chrome. I got this link, with the planets in a straight line, not vertically aligned. Maybe the site auto-redirects the users to the second page, depending on the browser. I don't know how they could do this, but it's not impossible, right?

Re: Accurately-proportioned online scale model of our solar system

Alene Y 26 Jul 2011 03:15

Apparently so, since that's what I'm getting. Oh well, it's not that important.