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Home / How to Make a Model of the Solar System

How to Make a Model of the Solar System

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.

Download Apple Numbers-format spreadsheet

Download Excel-format spreadsheet

Download OpenOffice-format spreadsheet

Links to other Solar System resources

  • Your Age On Other Worlds
  • Your Weight On Other Worlds
  • The Exploratorium's "Observatory"
  • The Nine Planets
  • A Solar System Scale Model Meta Page.
  • A new geocaching model in California. Get out that GPS to find the planets!
  • Filmmakers Show the Scale of the Solar System in Amazing Video
  • If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel
  • THE THOUSAND-YARD MODEL or, The Earth as a Peppercorn
  • Colorado Scale Model Solar System
  • The Eugene Oregon 1:1,000,000,000 Scale Model Solar System
  • Scale Model Solar System lesson plan from meteorite.unm.edu
  • Solar System Exploration from NASA-JPL
  • NSSDC Photo Gallery
  • JPL's Welcome to the Planets
  • A diagram of the solarsystem NOW! (In stereo if you want!)
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day
Thanks to Bill Arnett for his fantastic Nine Planets web site.

© 1997; Ron Hipschman, Exploratorium

How to Make a Model of the Solar System

Source: https://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/