scale (APOD 28 Aug 2006)

Paul Douglas · Post by **Paul Douglas** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 4:33 pm

was wondering if the image (8.28.06) was to scale. Relative size of the Sun and planets. (and now "not plantets")

astro_uk · Post by **astro_uk** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 4:35 pm

In terms of planetary radius I think it is but in terms of orbital radius obviously not.

BMAONE23 · Post by **BMAONE23** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:06 pm

an interesting footnote about scale:

Empeda wrote:
I found a good reference for the comparative distances/sizes at http://www.nineplanets.org:

Imagine Earth the size of a grape.
The moon would be a foot from the earth.
The sun would be 1.5m in diameter and 150 metres away.
Jupiter would be the size of a large grapefruit and be about 5 city blocks away.
Saturn (an orange!) - 10 blocks.
Uranus and Neptune (lemons) - 20 and 30 blocks.
A Human - the size of an atom.
The nearest star: 40,000 KILOMETERS AWAY.

Vast my friend.... vast.....

This is another way to put it
Speed of light travel and the distance of space

If you could walk at the speed of light, this would be how fast you could travel.
Start at a point on the ground which will represent the center of the sun and mark it, then walk at your regular pace. If you walk for 2.3 seconds, you will reach the outside of the sun. Mark that spot and continue. All distances will be given as time from this point.
Continue walking from the sun for 3 minutes and you reach Mercury, 6 minutes and you reach Venus, 8 ½ minutes to get to Earth (look back to your starting point can you still see it?). 11 minutes from the sun you’ll find Mars. 46 minutes from the sun and you get to Jupiter. 1 hour and 16 minutes from the sun and you arrive at Saturn. 2 hours and 43 minutes from the sun you will find Uranus. 4 hours and 13 minutes of walking will get you to Neptune. 6 hours (360 minutes) of walking will get you to Pluto. How far can you walk in 6 hours? To get to our nearest star, you will have to walk, non stop, for over 4 years. That’s far.

Paul Douglas · Post by **Paul Douglas** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:38 pm

BMAONE23 wrote:an interesting footnote about scale:

Empeda wrote:
I found a good reference for the comparative distances/sizes at http://www.nineplanets.org:

Imagine Earth the size of a grape.
The moon would be a foot from the earth.
The sun would be 1.5m in diameter and 150 metres away.
Jupiter would be the size of a large grapefruit and be about 5 city blocks away.
Saturn (an orange!) - 10 blocks.
Uranus and Neptune (lemons) - 20 and 30 blocks.
A Human - the size of an atom.
The nearest star: 40,000 KILOMETERS AWAY.

Vast my friend.... vast.....

This is another way to put it
Speed of light travel and the distance of space

If you could walk at the speed of light, this would be how fast you could travel.
Start at a point on the ground which will represent the center of the sun and mark it, then walk at your regular pace. If you walk for 2.3 seconds, you will reach the outside of the sun. Mark that spot and continue. All distances will be given as time from this point.
Continue walking from the sun for 3 minutes and you reach Mercury, 6 minutes and you reach Venus, 8 ½ minutes to get to Earth (look back to your starting point can you still see it?). 11 minutes from the sun you’ll find Mars. 46 minutes from the sun and you get to Jupiter. 1 hour and 16 minutes from the sun and you arrive at Saturn. 2 hours and 43 minutes from the sun you will find Uranus. 4 hours and 13 minutes of walking will get you to Neptune. 6 hours (360 minutes) of walking will get you to Pluto. How far can you walk in 6 hours? To get to our nearest star, you will have to walk, non stop, for over 4 years. That’s far.

ckam · Post by **ckam** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 3:45 pm

yes he said that

craterchains · Post by **craterchains** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:10 am

Sign me up for the intergalactic realestate course, lots of money to be made. 8)

Norval

Starship Asterisk*

scale (APOD 28 Aug 2006)

scale (APOD 28 Aug 2006)

very useful analogy, thanks