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Make a scale model of the Solar System and learn the REAL definition of "space."

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Fill in the diameter of the Sun you want your model to be scaled by. You can fill in either the red bordered inches box or the green bordered millimeters box. Important: Only fill in one box. If both are filled in you will get a dialog box asking you to clear one of the boxes. Use the Clear button to clear the entire form.
Click on the "Calculate" button.
Notice that the distances and sizes of the planets will automatically fill in. I've also provided some other interesting scale comparisons at the bottom of the chart.
You can now build your scale model. You can do this with a long tape measure, or you can measure the size of your pace and walk it off counting the number of steps you take. To mark a planet's place you can use a piece of paper on a post that you stick into the ground, or you can use a flag, or even a person. Be prepared for a long walk!
If you build your solar system on a roll of toilet paper, you can make the Sun about .4 inches (10 mm) across and still fit the entire solar system on the roll. A standard roll of toilet paper has about 450 sheets that are about 4.375 inches long, hence the roll is about 164 feet long. You should check your toilet paper for length. Some are longer.
You can click on the names of the planets and satellites to go the the Nine Planets web site page about them. LOTS of info there!

Solar System Model

Body	Body Diam (km)	Body Diam (in)	Body Diam (mm)	Orbit radius (km)	Scaled orbit radius (ft & in)		Scaled orbit radius (meters)

Sun	1391900
Mercury	4866			57950000	ft	in	m
Venus	12106			108110000	ft	in	m
Earth	12742			149570000	ft	in	m
Mars	6760			227840000	ft	in	m
Jupiter	142984			778140000	ft	in	m
Saturn	116438			1427000000	ft	in	m
Uranus	46940			2870300000	ft	in	m
Neptune	45432			4499900000	ft	in	m
Pluto	2274			5913000000	ft	in	m

Other interesting distances and speeds
Quantity	Real Quantity	Scaled Quantity (English)	Scaled Quantity (Metric)

Speed of light	299792 km/sec	in/sec	mm/sec
Light year	9.46051E+12 km	mi	km

Distances to Stars and Galaxies
To Alpha Centauri	4.03964E+13 km	mi	km
To Sirius	8.17388E+13 km	mi	km
To Deneb	1.32636E+16 km	mi	km
To Galactic center	2.62151E+17 km	mi	km

Sizes of Stars
Hottest star (Type 05)	12527100 km	ft	m
Coolest star (Type M5)	222704 km	in	cm
Red giant (Betelgeuse)	521962500 km	ft	m
White dwarf (Sirius B)	13919 km	in	mm
Neutron star	20 km	in	mm

I've only given you the sizes and distances to the planets. If you'd like to see the satellites of the planets as well, click here for a much more extensive page (and a longer download time too!)

One of the most exciting excercises I ever did as a kid was to make a scale model of the Solar System. Most of the pictures in my books made the distance between planets seem small and easy to travel. Museums were no help either. The models they displayed usually had the sizes of the planets to scale, but the distances between them were a completly different scale, giving the impression of a rather close-knit family.

I made my first scale model on a roll of teletype paper tape (anyone remember that stuff?) On this 1-inch tape, my Sun was the size of the tape - 1 inch in diameter. It all started out well. Mercury was only about 3-1/2 feet from the sun and Earth was almost 9 feet from the Sun. What I didn't bargain for was that Pluto was 354 feet down the tape! I used up almost the entire roll.

I also calculated the sizes that I should make the dots that represented the planets. I found that even the largest planet, Jupiter, should have a spot size smaller than 1/8 inch. The other planets, especially the small rocky inner planets, would be virtually invisible dust spots.

Needless to say, this was an eye-opening experience. This one excercise taught me the real meaning of the word "space." It sure made me feel insignificant looking at the scale of the Solar System - never mind the rest of the universe!

Now we have great tools like spreadsheets to do the numerical computations for us. Below you can download OpenOffice (or Libre Office ), Apple Numbers or Excel format files. In these spreadsheets, you set the scale of the model by entering a radius for the Sun. The sheets should then calculate everything else based on this number.

Make a scale model of the Solar System and learn the REAL definition of "space."

Solar System Model

Links to other Solar System resources