1:15,000,000 Scale Model of the Solar System
 

I came across this news article at BoingBoing, and I found it to be rather interesting.

UK Solar System Set for Creation

What this project aims to do is to demonstrate to people the vast amount of distance between the planets in our solar system.

The representations of the planets are all going to be about a meter in diameter, so the size ratio isn't preserved. Only the distant ratio is important in this demonstration.

Thoughts?

it's... good?
it's too bad they aren't making the sizes to scale, too. that would be pretty neat.

Sure, it'd be neat, but they'd have to go for a smaller scale. If memory serves, even at a scale of 1:15,000,000 the model sun would still need to be bigger than the actual earth.

But, I could be wrong. I'm not very good with numbers.

did you read the entire article?

Doesn't Washington DC have one of these? I think I saw one when I went...

adamark: No, I did not, and I have just eaten my foolish words. They tasted like boiled peas. :(

If it does, it's on an even SMALLER scale. You see, in this one, the sun is about 6 miles away from the earth's place, and pluto is stuck all the way up in SCotland. These maps show off the scope oif this project.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...ts3_map203.gif
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...ts6_map203.gif

I'm all about the astronomy, but this is retarded. No one, I mean no one, is going to go through the effort to actually see all these things. It seems like a massive waste of money, as I really don't see how this is anymore effective than telling people "If a scale model of the solar system were created, Pluto would be in Scotland."

Incidentally, what *is* TL66 anyway, and what does the bracketed TNO beside it stand for?

TL66 is an object in the Kupier belt, a sphere of comet like objects that orbit the sun beyond Pluto. They often become normal comets. TNO stands for Trans-Neptunian object, an object which moves in and out of the orbit of Neptune.