solar systemAn illustration shows the Sun and the planets that orbit it. From the closest to the Sun to the farthest, they are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The distances between the planets are not shown to scale.
A Model of the Cosmos
What if the Earth was the size of a Ping-Pong ball?
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solar systemThe planets (in comparative size) in order of distance from the Sun.
Sometimes it’s hard to get a handle on the vastness of the universe. How far is an astronomical unit, anyhow? In this list we’ve brought the universe down to a more manageable scale.
The universe is a big place, but let’s cut it down to size by making the Earth the size of a Ping-Pong ball. On that scale it would be placed 500 yards (460 meters) from the Sun.
Sun
imaging using ultraviolet lightThe Sun as imaged in extreme ultraviolet light by the Earth-orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite. A massive loop-shaped eruptive prominence is visible at the lower left. Nearly white areas are the hottest; deeper reds indicate cooler temperatures.
The Sun would be a little over 14 feet (4 meters) in diameter, about the size of a large gazebo.
Moon
Moon The familiar near side of Earth's Moon, photographed on December 7, 1992, by the Galileo spacecraft on its way to Jupiter. Two primary kinds of terrain are visible—the lighter areas, which constitute the heavily cratered and very old highlands, and the darker, roughly circular plains, traditionally called maria, which are relatively young lava-filled impact basins. Among the maria are (from left) the crescent-shaped Oceanus Procellarum near the left limb, the large, almost perfectly circular Mare Imbrium, or Imbrium Basin (with the crater Copernicus a bright dot at its lower margin), Mare Serenitatis immediately to the right of Imbrium, Mare Tranquillitatis to the lower right of Serenitatis, and Mare Crisium, isolated near the right limb. Another bright crater, Tycho, stands out at the bottom left of the image.
On this scale the Moon would be a marble 4 feet (1.2 meters) from Earth.
Mercury
MercuryPhoto mosaic of Mercury, taken by the Mariner 10 spacecraft, 1974.
The planet Mercury would be the size of a large marble 2 American football fields away from the Sun.
Venus
VenusVenus photographed in ultraviolet light by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (Pioneer 12) spacecraft, February 26, 1979. Although Venus's cloud cover is nearly featureless in visible light, ultraviolet imaging reveals distinctive structure and pattern, including global-scale V-shaped bands that open toward the west (left). Added color in the image emulates Venus's yellow-white appearance to the eye.
Venus would approximate a Ping-Pong ball placed 375 yards (340 meters; slightly less than 2 blocks) from the Sun.
Mars
MarsAn especially serene view of Mars (Tharsis side), a composite of images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft in April 1999. The northern polar cap and encircling dark dune field of Vastitas Borealis are visible at the top of the globe. White water-ice clouds surround the most prominent volcanic peaks, including Olympus Mons near the western limb, Alba Patera to its northeast, and the line of Tharsis volcanoes to the southeast. East of the Tharsis rise can be seen the enormous near-equatorial gash that marks the canyon system Valles Marineris.
Mars would be a gumball sitting 3 ¼ blocks from the Sun.
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JupiterJupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun and largest planet in the solar system. The Great Red Spot is visible in the lower left. This image is based on observations made by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1979.
Jupiter would be a large beach ball situated 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) from the Sun.
Saturn
SaturnSaturn, showing an Earth-sized storm (light-coloured patch) in its northern equatorial region, in a composite image made from observations with the Hubble Space Telescope on December 1, 1994, more than two months after the storm's discovery. Large storms are relatively rare on Saturn, which has a less-active atmosphere than Jupiter.
Saturn would be a slightly smaller beach ball located 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) from the Sun.
Uranus
Hubble Space Telescope: UranusImage of Uranus captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, 1998. Visible are four of its major rings and 10 of its satellites.
The planet Uranus would be the size of a cantaloupe placed 5.6 miles (9 kilometers) from the Sun.
Neptune
clouds in Neptune's atmosphereClouds in Neptune's atmosphere, photographed by Voyager 2 in August 1989. The view is from below the planet's equator, and north is up. The Great Dark Spot (centre left) is 13,000 km (8,100 miles)—about the diameter of Earth—in its longer dimension. Accompanying it are bright, wispy clouds thought to comprise methane ice crystals. At higher southern latitudes lies a smaller, eye-shaped dark spot with a light core (bottom left). Just above that spot is a bright cloud dubbed Scooter. Each of these cloud features was seen to travel eastward but at a different rate, the Great Dark Spot moving the slowest.
Neptune would be approximately the size of a medium acorn squash 8.8 miles (14 kilometers) from the Sun.
Proxima Centauri
Big DipperThe stars of the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major.
The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, has to be placed 78,450 miles (126,250 kilometers) from the Sun on this scale!
The Milky Way galaxy would be 2,000,000 miles (3,200,000 kilometers) across!
Andromeda
Andromeda GalaxyImage of the Andromeda Galaxy taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Blue indicates mature stars, while yellow and red show dust heated by newborn massive stars.
Andromeda, the nearest spiral galaxy, would be 47,000,000,000 miles (76,000,000,000 kilometers) away on this scale!
Light
Diffraction gratingSpectrum of white light by a diffraction grating. With a prism, the red end of the spectrum is more compressed than the violet end.
The speed of light (in reality 186,282 m/sec) would be 2.1 miles per hour (3.4 kilometers per hour).
