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Maine Completes Largest To-Scale Solar System Model
Neophytus writes "The University of Maine has now almost completed its solar system model, to be unveiled officially on the June 14th at Westfield. The final planet, Uranus, will be set in place on the 13th. At forty miles from Pluto to The Sun and built to a scale of 1:93,000,000, it will be the largest three-dimensional scale model of the Solar System in North America."
We're in the largest to scale model of the solar system.
Given that the solar system isn't all in the same plane, it'd be quite a trick to make a three-dimensional model stay on the Earth's surface (even ignoring curvature). Or are they not tracing out orbits, but instead picking a point on the orbits where the planets happen to be collinear?
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
...is located in Sweden.
I guess they have room for something like that.
This one is headquartered at Peoria, IL.. I don't think this one is in 3d.
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
I hear some of the hottest models are located there, too.
in the list of roadside americana, along with carhenge
;-(
and also, unfortunately, soon to have some it's planets ripped off and mounted in dorm rooms
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
...that it will be using this new scale model to test launch paths for future probes to other planets. A NASA engineering demonstrated by spreading out his arms and making airplane noises while running towards Mars.
I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
What's up with the obvious cutout lines in the Neptune picture on the front page? Looks like maybe they wanted to lighten the picture up a little, but in that case, why not lighten up the whole thing rather than just the cutout?
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
When they're done, they'll be mighty proud of themselves, so they'll light up a big BBQ at the center of the model, where the sun should be, and they'll grill models of invading alien motherships in the form of hamburger patties.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Guess they are going to have to change the heading on their website.
Bradley's Solar System
The Solar System model is now featured on Sla... ERROR.
"That Earth is located at Percy's Auto Sales (1.0 mile from Sun)..."
(Percy's must have pretty damn good air-conditioning)..
Pursuit of science [somehow].
I remember back in my day we were simply told the solar system is huge. We didn't need a realistic to scale model to figure that out.
Maybe kids today have no imagination...
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
I apologize in advance, but, Huh, huh, huh, they said Checking the progress of Uranus".
If you don't have something nice to sig, then don't sig anything at all.
Aroostook County, in Northern Maine, is building a 40-mile long scale model of the solar system, at a scale of 1 mile equaling the distance from earth to sun. The model extends along Route 1, between the University of Maine at Presque Isle campus and the Houlton Information Center at the end of I-95. The model has ten major components, those being the sun and the nine planets from Mercury to Pluto, with moons for Earth, Saturn, Jupiter (4) and Pluto.
The model serves as an educational resource and tourist attraction. It will also draw attention to Northern Maine, the university at Presque Isle, and the Northern Maine Museum of Science located there. All planets except Pluto would be visible from the road. Educational information on the planets would be found in the brochure, available at various places along Rt. 1. The small models are mounted on tall - ten foot high above ground level - posts to be viewed from the car, with the planets included within a 1-foot diameter semicircular structure to better show the tilt of the planets.
The planets are exhibited as three-dimensional models. The two largest planetary models (Jupiter and Saturn, measuring 4-5 feet across) and the two mid-sized planets (Uranus and Neptune, measuring 21-22 inches) require rather substantial monuments. However, there is local precedent and experience for models of this size, as both Presque Isle and Caribou have built large, permanent, monuments commemorating the first two balloon crossings of the Atlantic Ocean. These include models of the balloon envelopes that are larger in size than the envisioned planets. These models were constructed largely by local technical and high schools and funded by local service organizations. The solar system model requires a similar process in which local individuals and organizations take a direct role in construction and financing.
The last planet, Uranus, will be set on its base on June 13th. The formal unveiling of the Maine Solar System Model will happen at 1:00 on Saturday, June 14th 2003.
if you bothered to read anything, instead of assuming, you would find they had a budget of exactly $0 from outside sources other than volunteers from the community.
can beat this if we all get together.
I'm in Michigan -- I'll hang a basketball ("Jupiter") outside of my house.
Now, we need someone in New York state to be "Saturn", and someone in Minnesota to be "Mars".
Who's with me?
Uranus, will be set in place on the 13th
I don't recall agreeing to participate.
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
Sun Microsystems announced today that they are sueing the University of Maine for illegal use of their trademark "Sun." Mike Johannsen, a member of Sun's legal counsel, stated that "the University's use of our trademark is confusing to the marketplace" and that they "should take immediate action to rename the Sun model." Alternate names suggested include "Sol," "Yellow Star at the Middle," and "The Celestial Body Formerly Known as The Sun."
Looking at the photos of the planets mounted in their locations such as "Percy's Auto Sales" and the "Budget Traveler Motor Inn (0.7 mile from Sun)", all I could think about was Cadillac Ranch and other roadside attractions.
Actually, you can't. At least you couldn't up until now.
You have access to the materials, you have the know-how and you could likely find the space. What's holding you back? You don't have the motivation. Without the desire to do it, you can't.
Not "can but don't want to." "Can't."
It's a safe bet that my post is not going to make you say, "Well I'll show him!" so even after reading this, you still can't.No offense intended. I can't do it either. Just pointing out that drive or ambition is a necessary part of the equation for actually doing things.
You were 80% angel, 10% demon. The rest was hard to explain. - Over The Rhine
"Math in a song is good."-Linford
Add Ceres and some asteroids, to communicate just how empty an asteroid belt really is compared to the pictures in books and the depictions in sf films.
They didn't put Mars on Mars Hill. Probably for good reason, but it would have appealed to me.
Then something to explain that the nearest star is about 65,000 miles away on the same scale.
Gosh, that looks like a fun project.
Education
Edification
Realization
Wonder
Until you heard about this, did you have any real sense of the size and scale of our solar system?
How about the rest of Slashdot?
How about for those building this thing?
How about for those who visit this thing?
Imagine how tedious it is to walk from the earth to Mars, and then scale that to interplanetary scales, not even taking into account periphelion and aphelion, and gravity slingshots and lagrange tubes.
I mean, are you going to similarly argue that museums that only display known things is worthless?
GPL Deconstructed
make a moving model, it's yet another grand exercise in scale conversations, road trips and beer :).
Mode (3) smart-aleck mode. Press * to return to main menu.
One more thing to add to my scale model of the state of Maine.
Well, if you look at the picture mentioned with the guys in the back of the pickup, it is to be hoped that neptune is not being situated too far from the ecliptic.
After all, have you noticed the dirty-great big power lines just above them??
Also, if this is to scale, exactly how big are real solar power-lines?
Its late, I'm drunk, I should put my sense of humor to sleep......
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
I used to date this girl from Ithaca when I discovered their scale solar system. On their monuments they say the marker for Pluto is in Oahu, Hawaii. Seems to me that would be slightly larger than Maine's model.
Tea and kung-fu. Life is good. Rising Phoenix
They forgot Planet X!!!
the curvature of the surface of earth is greater than that of space.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Clearly Uranus is much bigger than our, ah, ...never mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_bloc
Hm... I don't think it's a 3d scale model. All the planets except Pluto are all coplanar. Unfortunately, from the pictures on the site, all the planets seem to be an equal distance off the ground... but did they take into account the Earth's curvature? If not, then in reality all the model planets are not coplanar and therefore not a 3d scale (2d maybe). Right now the scale is treating the curvature of the Earth as a flat plane and that's not right.
"Why? Sure, I could make a 40 mile scale model of the solar system, but I have to ask, why?:
Beat's pickin' potatoes and you have to pay for the Coffee Brandy up here. Takes your mind off the mosquitos?
Man, they really wussied out on the sun. It's just a two-dimensional arch. I want to see a fifty-foot ball of fire, godammit!
Strangely enough, the world's largest rotating globe is also in Maine. It is far more impressive.
Documented here it is described in the official exhibit guide as being scaled 6,215 miles per inch (helpfully translated by the 1st site as a 1-to-400 million scale model (1 inch equals 10,000 km)). The planets are all conveniently located in public places reasonably easily reached by public transportation or for the more hardy by bicycle.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
After spending a few miserable years in ithaca, ny and staring at the "commons" walk for many a boring afternoon, I think your memories are escaping you. Pluto, is actually at the science center (somewhere on the "main road" route 13).
Ithaca's "carl sagan" walk is probably smaller than maines actually.
In fact the map is available on the net, if you want to take a look..
-bloo
Hopefully Linux will beat them to it.
-- Many men would appreciate a woman's mind more if they could fondle it
it would be really funny to paint your car up like a big rock and drive it at 7 mph (651,000,000 mph in scale) to simulate an asteroid collision at near light speed.
Presumably because the model is static it is a
snapshot of the planets orbits at particular
date (with a repeating interval).
Has someone predicted when the planets will be
next be the same as the model?
That's now claimed the spot for coolest scientific oriented model that I've seen. It moves the San Francisco Bay model down to the number two spot.
Now I just need to find number three...
Maine also has the world's largest Revolving/Rotating Globe, 41 feet in diameter, at the DeLorme map company office. They make the state atlases that are based on topo maps (good for camping and stuff).
who said it was a joke? heres a tip:
"presumption is the mother of all fuck ups, so dont ever presume"
moo
The largest scale model I've personally seen was the one on the Mall in Washington, DC. It's pretty piddly compared to this one, but it was still the neatest part of my entire trip there. It's got the advantage of all being within the bounds of a very reasonable walk.
With recent, excessive, and pervasive corporate sponorship, Earth shall henceforce be known as Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, Jeep Earth.
Earth
Wasn't that a line from some bad Steven Segal movie?
Dark Territories I think it was called.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
The most obvius problem with building this scall model seams to be that the Sun isn't actualy a Ball.
Seriusly. I think other "partialy to scale" modelsarebetter for the simple reason that if you get the reletive sizes of all the planets right but ignore the actual distance betwean them you enable people to look over the whole thing.
As is it looks like they streached the scale large enogh so someone won't literaly poket mercury andthus ended up with acrane to lift saturn and a sun that isn't all there.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
You miss the point. Huge is meaningless. Is it Bigger than BIG?? I think these models are great. They allow people to wrap their minds around concepts of distance that are otherwise incomprehensible. Can you actually say that you can really comprehend light-years of distance and relate it to your own existence? It was interesting to note the comment that the model still has the next star at 65,000 miles away. It is a big universe. Every conceptual aid helps. Try envisioning the distance to the edge of the universe. That's huge. :)
Looking at the Jupiter webpage, it appears that they got carried away with the paint job. The earlier layers of painted bands look more faithful to me, then somebody put a "tomato soup" coat on it, hiding the rather even banding that is found on the real thing. Plus, the real thing is mostly light-tan, not red. I have seen the real thing through small telescopes, and Nasa tends to increase the contrast and color of their photos to bring out detail. But even those photos don't have so much red. The Mars team had extra paint or something? :-)
Further, it appears the models are round, but the larger planets are noticably "flattened" due to centrifugal rotational force.
Table-ized A.I.
As someone has already pointed out, your memory misleads you... As I recall, in Ithaca's model the four inner planets are all within the Commons, so its Earth is less than a hundred feet from its Sun--nothing like one mile. Though I don't know where Pluto was in that model I walked from the Commons all the way out past Uranus, so unless something's grievously wrong with the scale I think Hawaii is out of the question.
Also, comparing the two: Ithaca's isn't three-dimensional, as the models are round plexiglass windows in stone gravestone-looking things (or rather little dots on those windows).
A small black monolith has been spotted in the vicinity of the Jupiter model.
Researchers at the University of Maine had no comment.
We are going to Maine for summer vacation !!
...are they going to move it in real time?
The coolest voice ever.
Yeah, you know UMaine Presque Isle is just filled with rich scholarship boys.
"Hit the brakes, Barney!"
(Screech! Wooooosh!)
"May goodnes, Betty! Was that a UFO?"
"I think it was a scale model of Saturn, Barney."
(Ping! Tap! Tick!)
"Ah... Trojan asteroids..."
--- Ban humanity.
...They've modeled their solar system with everything revolving around the Sun when it's quite obvious all the planets and moons revolve around ME...
Height: 38U, Weight: 0 Newtons, Eyes: #0000FF, OS: Gray Matter 1.0 (Alpha)
Yep. Miles and miles of distance separates Sun from its custom- er, planets, with Sun thinking it knows how much, uh, flux they want, versus what they really do want.
They forgot to include the binary star system RedHat & IBM which swoops in oftener than not and picks off the planets one by one.
Motorists and pedestrians in the vincinity of Presque Isle, Maine are warned to use caution and to observe all roadway warning signs. ("Jupiter Crossing", "Do Not Drive Into Rings", "Beware of Mars", etc.)
The sun should be pretty safe. It would be ~45ft in diameter, but it would just rotate and emit ~500 watts. (4*10^26W/((1/93,000,000)^3) = 497W
This is yet another splendid opportunity for education in metric units lost. I imagine there will be information boards in front of each planet giving the weight in ounces and the volume in gallons. When will the USA catch up with international standards?
But seriously though, a much better place to do this is in the Australian outback. We have enough room for it, and we even have enough room to mount the planets on vehicles and drive them around at the right speed without running into anything. In fact, this would make a nice tourist attraction for Alice Springs. Let me see now, Earth radius = 6371 km, distance to Sun = 150 million km, Radius of Earth model = 42 mm. Hmmm... it will need a dingo fence.
I totally agree. My point though is we were taught its huge just by using math. e.g. draw the sun. Draw the orbit of Mercury then the other planets.
When you end up putting Pluto a couple of feet out in radius [when by comparison Mercury is fairly close I don't remember exact details] you get the point.
As I recall we did use a football field, meter sticks and huge cardboard circles with names on them to help out. Budget: 10$ [not the few thousand or so they probably had]
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
The ecliptic is the plane of the Earth's orbit. Most other planets in the solar system have planes that are very close (though not identical), but Pluto's orbital plane is tilted by about 17 degrees.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Couldn't these people do something more productive with their time?
:)
You mean, they're idiots for building a scientific and educational piece of art, and you're NOT wasting your time by surfing the web on Saturday evening?
...if they took the curvature of the earth over those 40 miles into account in the z-axis of the setup. Or even if inclination of the orbitplanes is taken into account at all.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
11 Fun and Exciting Things To Do In Maine:
1) Eat $5.00 lobster right off the boat
2) Go camping, fishing, etc., without undertaking a major operation or spending hundreds of dollars
3) Swat mosquitoes
4) Swat blackflies
5) Laugh at tourists
6) Go down to Dunkin Donuts, listen to voluble roommate talk at someone for 5 minutes, get 2-syllable reply: "Ayyuh"
7) Go to Moody's Diner, eat walnut pie. Try to remember entire dialogue to Tim Sample's "Baked bean special at Moody's Diner" routine.
8) Go up north, see moose. They're really, really big.
9) Complain about the crayfish logo on the license plates.
10) Make obscene snow sculptures
11) Ah, that first day of spring!
5 Unique Entertaining Features of the University of Maine:
1) North America's largest scale model of the solar system
2) A really ugly hockey arena (Orono camous)
3) Free education for Passamaquody, Micmac and Penobscot Indians
4) Entertainingly eccentric professors (this may not be unique)
5) Has a Sea Grant campus
All right, so these are not the most exciting or leading-edge things you could think of. So what. Maine is a place for people who don't need the more sophisticated features of, say, California. I lived there for about 9 years, and loved it, even the winters (at least the first 5 or 6 months of them).
As for the model, I completely disagree. This is a really cool idea. The planet models are large enough to see and get a feel for, and the fact that they stretch out over 40 miles along Route 1 points out just how far apart everything is. You'd have to be pretty unromantic not to like this. Imagine being a kid and coming across this and being turned on by it and becoming a scientist because of it. That's what it's all about.
Here in Petaluma, CA, someone recently made a planetary model by drawing the planets on the sidewalk with magic markers over a 6 or 7 block distance. It's not really to scale - each planet is a couple inches in diameter - but it's fun to walk downtown following it (it starts right by my house). I wouldn't mind having something like this, hanging from the phone poles, though.
What if life is just a side effect of some other process and God has no idea we exist?
Checking the progress of Uranus
using a mirror?
And I'm pretty sure it was Assumption, not presumtion.
The best cure for insomnia is realizing that it is already time to get up. EsteEncanto.com - Blog on technology, urban
Did anyone else half expect to get a goatse link when clicking on the Uranus link? Damn Slashdot conditioning... ;)
I've seen descriptions of a half-dozen of these solar-system models, here and abroad. It's time to go to the next level, a scale model of the Milky Way galaxy. All we need is a basketball painted black for the center and a hundred million LEDs.
Great project for the next Burning Man.
And it takes you 15 minutes, then you are walking .5C
at a scale speed of
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?)
Starman97@Gmail.com (bring it on spammers)
hard at work, trying to raise uranus.
You there in the back, quit snickering.
A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin
Does anyone else think that (at least the smaller) planets will have to be regularly replaced?
Home Depot sells bolt cutters and university students drink beer, right?
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Yeah, but it would have been most funny with a goatse link!
Linux IT Consulting and Domino Development in Michigan
Hey, us poor boys can do it too. We just have to use painted beach balls, soccer balls, etc. I doubt it could weather a big storm or BB attack, but, we could do it otherwise.
Table-ized A.I.
That any resemblance to the solar system is just a coincidence, since the people at the time the structure was built only had primitive tools and technology, as well as no notions of astronomy or the higher maths needed to accurately predict planetary motions or distances.
A Solar System Scale Model Meta Page .
Living in Maine and actually working for the University of Maine system, I can guarantee that at least one of the planets will be knocked down via 12 gauge by the end of the week.
This article from Smithsonian Magazine describes the Maine Solar System Model and the guy who put it all together, with a budget of $0. Everything from labor to the land to house the planets on was donated.
Think we can hire him to manage some Open Source projects for us? <grin>
Someone you trust is one of us.
A few years back I made an aproximate scale model of the solar system to liven up a run, using the scale 1mm for 1000km. It ended up being around 3.5 miles long. Running along along it gives a good impression of how big and empty space really is. If you ever get the chance, check out one of the scale models. They really make you feel quite small.
what sig?
Uranus is ready to go!
(Good to know, I say.)
After looking at the sun, Jupiter and some of the other planets, and then looking at Earth, I feel sooo small....
That's not paint on Mars - it's the atmosphere. There simply happens to be a planet-wide dust storm in progress. That might not be as lame as it sounds if the paint pigment is iron oxide.
Everyone except the US uses metric so here are some quick conversions:
University of Maine Model of Solar System scale 1 - 93,000,000 (93 mil miles = 149,668,992 km)
Sun Diameter: 50 ft (15.12 m)
Mercury Diameter: 2.1 inches. 0.4 mi. from Sun (.643 km)
Venus Diameter: 5.2 inches 0.7 mile from Sun (1.13km)
Earth Diameter: 5.5 inches 1 mile from sun - (1.609km)
Moon Diameter: 1.5" 16ft from earth
Mars Diameter: 2.9 inches 1.5 miles from Sun (3.9km)
Jupiter Diameter: 61.4 inches (5 feet)
* Location: 5.3 mile from Sun (8.5km)
* Moons:
o Io (diameter 1.6 inches, 182 inches [15+ feet] from Jupiter axis)
o Europa (diameter 1.3 inches, 289 inches [24+ feet] from Jupiter axis)
o Ganymede (diameter 2.3 inches, 461 inches [38+ feet] from Jupiter axis)
o Callisto (diameter 2.1 inches, 811 inches [67+ feet] from Jupiter axis)
Saturn Diameter: 51.9 inches
* Location: (9.7 miles from Sun)(15.6 km)
* Inner Ring Diameter 63 inches
* Outer Ring Diameter 117 inches (10 feet)
* Moon Titan (diameter 2.2 inches,526 inches [43+ feet] from Saturn axis)
Uranus Diameter: 22 inches
* Location: 19.5 miles from Sun (31.4km)
Neptune Diameter: 21.3 inches
* Location: 30.6 miles from Sun (49.25km)
Pluto Diameter: 1 inch
Location: 40 miles from Sun 64.4
* Moon Charon (diameter 0.5 inch, 8.5 inches from planet axis)
Today's vices may be tomorrow's virtues.
University of Maine Model of Solar System scale 1 - 93,000,000 (93 mil miles = 149,668,992 km)
scale has no unit, so conversion is pointless
Be wary of any facts that confirm your opinion.
Of course the scale has a unit. It is one mile to 93 mil miles. Did you think 1 inch to 93 mil inches would work?
Today's vices may be tomorrow's virtues.
What if someone wants to extend a road through Percy's Auto Sales? They'd have to demolish Earth. Oh I'm sure the plans will be made available, but at this scale Alpha Centauri is 280,000 miles away - just on the other side of the moon. But if we cant be bothered going there and lodging a complaint I'm sure that the highway will be built without much complaint.
Now I can take my dog and pretend it is "Space Gamora" coming to destroy the earth since everything is in scale now...
I took a drive to Aroostook on Memorial Day. I only saw three of the planets, even though I drove the entire length of the model. I saw Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. I thought they should have made Mars be in Mars Hill.
And just why does Bridgewater have dubious distinction to being home to ....
Use your head, can't you, use your head,
You're on earth, there's no cure for that - S. Beckett
shooosh, I didnt get it from a film you fucking morons, and its "presumption" not ASSumption I ment. Look it up in the dictionary then compare it to the contex I was using it. Then take yourself to a cliff and jump the world dosnt need idiots like you.
moo
er... yes, actually, it would.
HTH. HAND.
Take a look at what they are a calling a three dimensional model of the sun. To me it looks very much like a two dimensional model of a section of the the Golden Arches.
If this were to really be a 3d model, shouldn't the sun be sphere instead of an arch?
Work for Change & GET PAID!
Last year I was biking on the Mall in front of the Air and Space museum and stumbled upon their model. It's stretched out along the road in front of Air and Space, the Hirshhorn, and the castle. Much smaller scale than Maine's model, of course, but still mind-blowing. Each planet was represented by a tiny round blip on a metal plaque. Comparing those blips to the dozens of yards of open space between them really brought the whole solar system into perspective.
No sig? Sigh...
Mercury, 2.1 inches. 0.4 mi. from Sun (.643 km)
Venus, 5.2 inches 0.7 mile from Sun (1.13km)
Earth, 5.5 inches 1 mile from sun - (1.609km)
Moon, 1.5", 16ft from earth
Mars, 2.9 inches, 1.5 miles from Sun (3.9km)
Jupiter, 61.4 inches (5 feet), 5.3 mile from Sun (8.5km)
Saturn, 51.9 inches, (9.7 miles from Sun)(15.6 km)
Uranus, 22 inches, 19.5 miles from Sun (31.4km)
Neptune, 21.3 inches, 30.6 miles from Sun (49.25km)
Pluto, 1 inch, 40 miles from Sun (64.4km)
I think that these numbers show not only the large distances involved in space flight, but also that our telescopes are pretty amazing for the job that they do as well.
Perhaps they should show where all our interplanetary spacecraft are at the present time.
Anyone for a visit to the Total Perspective Vortex?
See how important you really are to the universe
--
Ian.
Oz used to have three cattle stations each bigger than Texas. You can fit seven Texases into Western Australia without overlaps, bending, folding or cutting. Japanese tourists still jump into Perth taxis and ask to go (~3000km) to Sydney. Perhaps we could model the local cluster here. Are we done with the state envy yet? (-:
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing