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Unit 7: Astrophysics Page 57
reason they usually don't how the Venus (single peppercorn) is 77
planets and their orbits to scale - feet from the sun.
they would need a sheet of paper
nearly a mile long! Earth (single peppercorn) is 107
feet from the sun.
To really get the hang of how big
and far away celestial objects Mars (half a peppercorn) is 163
really are, find a long stretch of feet from the sun.
road that you can mark off with
Jupiter (golf ball) is 559 feet from
chalk. We've provided
the sun.
approximate (average) orbital
distances and sizes for building
Saturn (shooter-size marble) is
your own scale model of the solar
1,025 feet from the sun.
system.
Uranus (regular-size marble) is
When building this model, start by
2,062 feet from the sun.
marking off the location of the sun
(you can use chalk or place the
Neptune (regular marble) is 3,232
objects we have suggested below
feet from the sun.
as placeholders for the locations).
Are you ready to find out what's Pluto (grain of sand) is 4,248 feet
out there? Then let's get started. from the sun.
You need a measuring tape (the
biggest one you have) as well as Nearest Star (Alpha Centauri) is
tape or chalk to mark off the 5500 miles from the sun.
locations as you go along. All
distances are measured from the Experiment: Is Your Solar
center of the sun. (In some cases, System Too Big?
you might just want to use the
odometer in your car to help you If these distances are too large for
measure the distance!) you, simply shrink all objects to
the size of the period at the end of
Sun (12" beach ball) at the this sentence and you'll get your
starting point. solar system to fit inside your
house using these measurements
Mercury (grain of sand) is 41 feet
below.
from the sun.
First, draw a tiny dot for the Sun.
The diameter of the sun for this
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