Friday, January 19, 2018

The Scaled Size of the Solar System


If the Earth was the size of a tennis ball then Neptune would be about 15 miles away. It would also be about 27 cm in diameter (compared to Earth's 7 cm).

A new interactive map helps explain the size of the solar system by overlaying a scaled representation of the distance from the sun to each of the planets on top of a map of your neighborhood. Basically Solar System Maps shows you how far away each of the planets would be from your home if the Earth was the size of a tennis ball.

If you share your location with Solar System Maps or click on your house on the map then it will place your home at the center of our scaled solar system. Each of the planets' orbits are then shown on the map to scale. You can view a relative comparison of the size of any of the planets to the Earth by clicking on the planet's orbit on the map. Solar System Maps can also show you the relative distance to each of the planets if the Earth was the size of a basketball.

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