Largest Scale Model of the Solar System

rotor writes "The world's largest scale model of the solar system, covering 40 miles, has just been dedicated. For people interested in seeing it in person, you'll have to take a trip up to northern Maine."

Wow

[4of12]

It's been talked about over here, too. [slashdot.org]

Wow!

[avalys]

Holy shit! Not only that, it's so big it extends 10 days into the fourth dimension!

(This story was posted 10 days ago [slashdot.org])

Re:Uranus is somewhere near Bangor

[mizidymizark]

Wait for it... Yes yes, the black hole around Uranus is not quite to scale.

Yo Mama Joke Fodder...

[NanoGator]

Yo mama's so fat, when she walks down Route 1 people slow down and say "that's no moon..."

(Note: Before modding me off-topic, RTFA.)

Enough McCartney. What about Lennon?

[AtariAmarok]

""What this is really about is science education," McCartney said."

Hey Jupe, don't make is sad
We took big Mars, and made it smaller
There's a Venus, behind the Portland Wal-Mart,
Then you can start to make it better.

Hey Jupe, don't be afraid
Near Castle Rock, they have placed Pluto
The size of a city block, with shiny fiberglass skin
We'll have a concert by Menudo

And any time you go to Maine, hey Jupe, refrain
We've carried these worlds upon our shoulders
For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool.
They placed Neptune where Rangely, where it's much colder.

NA-NA-NA-NA-NA NA-NA-NA-NA.

Re:education?

[isorox]

Because a scale printout would mean that the smaller planets would be measured in micrometers. Having to walk 40 miles between planets a few feet across give a much better example of the size of the system.

Re:education?

[MousePotato]

Having to walk 40 miles between planets a few feet across give a much better example of the size of the system.

yeah, walking that sure would leave an impression on a person, though, I think driving it would be a little less extreme and take a few hours less to accomplish...

Re:education?

[ravenousbugblatter]

I suppose this could be educational for the few kids whose parents decide to drive them through Aroostook county during the summer...mooommmmm, when are we gonna get to the next planet???

Ah. Planet Hollywood

[AtariAmarok]

"(AP) Work on the world's largest solar system display has begun in Maine. In an unrelated story, all of the large planet-like restaurant enclosures used in the defunct Planet Hollywood chain have mysteriously vanished."

Apologies to Stephen Wright...

[Big Sean O]

I've got a larger model of the solar system that that!

It's at the 1 foot = 1 foot scale.

Currently, you're standing on it...

Re:Apologies to Stephen Wright...

[morcheeba]

The EU just commissioned one that will be 1.05 meter to 1 meter, making this slightly bigger than yours.

(+/- 5% tolerance)

And if you jog from the sun to the earth..

[Anonymous Coward]

And it takes you 15 minutes, then you are walking
at a scale speed of .5C
If you run it in 8 minutes, then you would be exceeding the (scale) speed of light.

Driving from the sun the Pluto in 1 hour would
be an scale speed of 5C (Warp Factor 1.6?)

Model web site

[kekoap]

A much more useful link: The Main Solar System Model [maine.edu]. It includes a map, pictures of the sun and planets, and lots of other info.

Re:Model web site

[shadowbearer]

Is it just me, or do the guys erecting Neptune [maine.edu] look like they just hit the power line in the background? :-)

SB

Ayuh

[leviramsey]

Yuh can't get theyuh from heyuh...

Not the biggest . . .

[Gruuue]

The Maine model may be the largest in the US, but it's not the largest in the world . . . This one in Sweden [astro.su.se] has Pluto 300km from the Sun.

--Chris

Incomplete

[DahGhostfacedFiddlah]

From the website you linked to, it seems they still haven't placed "Saturnus"

7. Saturnus - Uppsala
Address: not yet in place.

This "solar system" place seems oddly familiar...

[jensend]

In other news, a forest composed mostly of fungus in Siberia has been proclaimed the largest full-scale model of the minds of Slashdot editors. "The largest dissimilarity between the model and what it represents," said the scientist making the press release, "seems to be that the fungus, through its slow evolutionary and adaptive processes, could almost be said to have a memory of past events and of what has and has not succeeded in the past."

DUPDUPDUPDUPDUPDUPDUPDUPDUPDUPDUPDUPDUPDUPDUPDUP
(initials of proteins coded for by an excerpt of a string of DNA common to all /. editors)

Psssst...don't tell anyone...

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

...but I know where you can go to see the original. Well, you can't see all of it but nonetheless it's better than some fake that's millions of times smaller.

Dupe

[DaoudaW]

This is a dupe [slashdot.org]

Plus how can you call a circular (no, its not a sphere) sun with a series of plastic balls stretched out in a more or less straight line a scale model. Has the solar system ever seen this configuration???

Whats wrong with you people?

[Shard013]

Everyones a troll here with the "DUPE!" syndrome. Even if it is a dupe, is it that bad? The old story said that it was nearly complete, this story simply tells us that the model has been dedicated.

When School Science Projects Attack

[mlush]

When little Kevin McCartney decided to do a model of the solar system for the School Science Fair little did he know how big it would get (cut to tearful Kevin) "Well I thought a scale of 1:93,000,000 sounded about right when I made Pluto out of a pingpong ball, then the teacher made me <sob> finish it!!! It took 20 years, now I'm a Professor the University of Maine and its only just finished it. I hope Mrs Pringle will now leave me to get on with my life"

UK version

[vin_petrol]

There's one in the UK too [york.ac.uk]. It's about six miles long (10km) by the side of a cycle path.

Universe scale model

[zer0vector]

Even better, we should build a model of the Milky Way:

If the Earth is the size of a pea in New York, then the Sun is a beachball 50m away, Pluto is 4km away, and the next nearest star is in Tokyo. Now shrink Pluto's orbit into a coffee cup, then our Milky Way Galaxy fills North America.

This is NOT the worlds largest scale model of ...

[joshamania]

I knew I should have called shenanigans when I first saw this. The worlds largest scale model of the solar system begins in Peoria, IL...awww...f-it...I'm going to repost this story again...

Re:Heads

[joshamania]

No, I think that's going to be an "actual size" dust cloud. ;-)

Education ??

[crazygeek]

"What this is really about is science education,"

Now I know us Brits think Yanks are a bit strange, but why do you want to educate people that the planets all lie in a stright line.

Re:Education ??

[Alizarin Erythrosin]

At some point in time, past or future, they all did/will line up in a straight line. How do you think we get eclipses?

Re:Education ??

[crazygeek]

At some point I dare say they will.
In fact, take a look at http://www.etsu.edu/physics/etsuobs/starprty/22099 dgl/planalign.htm
the figures are explained there. The chance of all planets, sun and the moon, aligning is once in 180000000000000 years - that's an awful long time.

Jon