Ths immensity of the Solar System

Build a Solar System

It's always fascinated me, the size of the universe. This shows you just how vast our little solar system is...

There are several scale models of the solar system: not just in America but around the world. Often, there's a model of the sun that's about a yard in diameter, and you can walk across a city or park visiting each of the planets. On a scale of the sun being 36 inches in diameter, the Earth is a third of an inch across, and 322 feet away. Pluto is two and a half miles away, and about the size of a pinhead. The nearest star, Alpha Centauri, is 17,000 miles away - and that's with the Earth being a third of an inch across!

So to say the solar system alone is vast is a gross understatement.

I believe that to be in awe of such facts helps us build our imagination. Realizing the limitlessness of space does enable us to realize something of the limitlessness of our imaginations, and put the pettiness of human ego into perspective.