File talk:Solar System scaled to a football field.png

Motivation behind this image

I made a major edit to the Solar System article yesterday that promptly got clobbered. I decided that a picture is worth all those words so made this graphic to encapsulate a lot of what that edit had stated. The major motivation was a decades-long lack in having a way to concisely communicate the grand scale of the distances in the Solar System. The only way I had experienced this previously was in walking large-scale models that covered vast distances. My expectation was that there was some way to communicate this using things that were already familiar so that a new endeavour would not be needed. The Solar system model article made a coordinated effort toward that end, but still did not seem easily relatable enough. So my first effort here was with these words in this edit from yesterday:

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Comprehending the vast distances

It can be difficult to comprehend the vast distances involved in the Solar System, as diagrams that scale both size and distance are rarely depicted. If the distance to the farthest planet, Neptune, were tried to be represented on an HDTV screen of 1920x1080 pixels, even the largest object, the Sun, would have a diameter significantly smaller than one pixel (at 0.59). And Jupiter, the largest planet, would be 0.061 pixels wide. In other words, it cannot be done. To scale Jupiter's size to 1 pixel while spanning the distance from the Sun to Neptune would require an image 31,500 pixels across.

Alternatively, if one were to take a golf ball to represent the Sun and eight BB pellets to represent the planets and scatter them to a representative scale distance, there would not be enough space on an entire football field to do this. To scale the Solar System down to the size of an American football field of 100 yards from goal line to goal line (roughly 13 meters shorter than a standard soccer, or Association football field), these are the sizes and distances that would be found:

• The Sun, located on one goal line, would have a diameter of ~2.83 centimeters (just over 1.1 inches), which is significantly smaller than a golf ball (~4.3 cm or 1.7 in).

• Neptune, located 100 yards away at the other goal line, would have a diameter of 1 millimeter (1.006 mm), which is significantly smaller than a BB pellet (~4.3 mm).

• Uranus would be found between 60 to 66 yards away from the Sun, and its diameter of 1.038 millimeters would be a hair larger than Neptune's.

• Saturn would be at the 30 yard line with its diameter at 2.447 millimeters, still significantly smaller than a BB pellet. It's visible rings at 5.7 mm wide, however, could cover that BB.

• Jupiter, the largest planet, at 2.9 mm is still smaller than a BB. It would be found at the 17 yard line. Jupiter, along with the four terrestial planets and the asteroid belt are in the "red zone" of the field.

• Ceres, the largest of the asteroids, would be found just outside of the 9 yard line, at "1st & goal", if you will. But it would be a mere speck, at less than 19.79 micrometers at its widest.

• Mars would be found right at the 5 yard line (between 4.54 and 5.47 yards) with a diameter of just under 138 micrometers (or 0.138 millimeters).

• Earth's distance would be at ~3.285 yards with a diameter of 258.7 micrometers (0.2587 millimeters). It's location is right by the white line marker specified to be located at 9 feet from the goal which is used for starting "points after touchdown" or "conversions".

• Venus would be at ~2.376 yards with a diameter of 245.8 micrometers.

• Mercury would be at the 1 yard line (between 1.01 and 1.53 yards). Its diameter would be 99.07 micrometers.

The full sequence in whole yards is: 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 17, 30, 63 and 100 representing the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, on this scale where the planets are the size of fleas and flea larvae.

There are several locations around the world that have scale diagrams of the Solar System that are very large and can be walked across. These are done at much larger distances than a football field so that planets do not have to be represented on the micrometer level. One such example has been made at California State University in Sacramento.

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And the subsequent effort has been posted today as this diagram. Some people may prefer the words as a logical way to walk through the explanation. The goal in creating the diagram was that the information could be communicated more rapidly. I'd appreciate any constructive suggestions for improvement.--Tdadamemd (talk) 04:11, 8 May 2012 (UTC)