A Nice Illustration of Scale...

[RainOfSteel]

The Oct-1999 Issue of National Geographic had a fold-out map where one side showed the Virgo Supercluster, the Local Group, the Milky Way, Sol's neighborhood, and our solar system, including how the solar ecliptic was canted considerably in comparison to the galactic ecliptic.

A friend gave me the map.

Unfortunately, it does not appear to be readily available on the Internet.

 

[marvo]

Originally posted by ElHombre:
here's one scale i recall from one of the books in my library. there are approxiamtely the same number of AUs in a light-year as there are inches in a mile. so the solar system would fit in a room and AC would be in the next town.

Nice one. I have never heard that before and you are right. I looked it up an found that 1 mile = 63,360 inches and 1 light year = 63,239.6717 AU.
That's really easy to remember and simple for the average person to get their head around.

 

[bozzutoman]

Originally posted by Plankowner:
And that was just the Size scale. Try looking at some comparisons on Distance. The sun is a basketball, Earth is across the parking lot, Pluto is down the block a ways and Alpha Centauri is MILES away. That can be pretty humbling too.

I went to Build a Solar System - Make a scale model of the Solar System and learn the REAL definition of "space."


Using their model, I calculated that if the Sun was the size of a US quarter (1in), the earth would be a fine-tip pen rollerball (0.2mm), 9 feet away.

Pluto would be a mere 25 microns across, and nearly a football field away (354ft).

Alpha Centauri, would be 458 miles away.

At this scale, If you were moving at the speed of light you'd only be traveling a little over a foot per minute...


...woah.

 

[Merxiless]

Sometimes you can find that National Geographic map at half-Price books for .50 cents.

I have one of them on my wall, for inspiration.

Next time I go there in a week or so, I will look around, and maybe try to find some more for anyone who wants one.

 

[Peter Newman]

"Boy howdy, makes me glad I'm out in the oort cloud... (I'm about 20 miles from Peter.)

Peter - Where are the exhibits? I'm not familiar with them."

The sun is at the northwest corner of the Performing Arts Center. The planets go towards and then along the coastal trail (Mercury is well before you get to the trail itself). Jupiter is near Westchester Lagoon, Saturn near Lyn Arry Park and Pluto is (supposedly, I've haven't been that far myself) about 15 miles out, near where the trail ends.
If they decide to make the new 'planet' a official planet, I hope they add it in if and when they make the trail longer.

The Sun is only the top 60% or so of the globe and is rather cool. It's not just one big yellow blob. It has surface features (sunspots and the like). Definately worth a look next time you're downtown. The planets are too small to be all that interesting, although they have signs and information with them.