Online Cartoon Trip Through Solar System

[Jim Leff]

There was, in the past year or so, an online cartoon very cleverly structured. It showed the sun, and as you swiped to the left, it took you on a journey past all the planets. It provided a great visceral sense of interplanetary distances (and included witty asides to keep readers entertained while swiping and swiping and swiping).

I thought maybe it was XKCD, or APOD, but I can't find it searching both. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Can you help me trace it down?

[rstevenson]

I think I saw that on youtube. But that would mean it wasn't interactive, so maybe not.

Rob

[Jim Leff]

No, was definitely done as a massively scrolling online cartoon, not a video. Thanks, though!

[Chris Peterson]

There was, in the past year or so, an online cartoon very cleverly structured. It showed the sun, and as you swiped to the left, it took you on a journey past all the planets. It provided a great visceral sense of interplanetary distances (and included witty asides to keep readers entertained while swiping and swiping and swiping).

I thought maybe it was XKCD, or APOD, but I can't find it searching both. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Can you help me trace it down?

Like this one?

I've seen a few in the last couple years, all similar. One was definitely discussed in this forum; not sure if it was an APOD, though.

[Jim Leff]

Chris, I believe that's it, thanks!

I seem to recall it demonstrating interstellar distance (i.e. to Alpha Centauri), too, but, of course, no mock-up could demonstrate interplanetary AND interstellar distances both at once.

So was there another thingee out there for visualizing larger distances? Maybe not involving swiping, but definitely gave a visceral sense of what a light year is like? I realize I'm being super vague....but ever since, I've had a more visceral sense of it than ever...

[geckzilla]

Anytime I need to be reminded about the distances between things in space, I start up a model of our solar system in Universe Sandbox, switch it to real time, and fire off a light pulse from any random object. It's really, really boring and not at all fun to watch the light pulse travel even short distances like Sun to Earth but at the same time it is a great way to firmly plant one's feet in reality about just how vast space really is.