Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Largest Scale Model of the Solar System

Posted by michael on from the gaz-guzzling-science dept.

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."

44 comments

  1. Wow by 4of12 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's been talked about over here, too.

    --
    "Provided by the management for your protection."
    1. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup, it was talked about before, but that was ten days ago. Three days ago, it was dedicated. That's NEWS!!! ;)

    2. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      slashdot.cc:1097: warning: `class 4of12' only defines private constructors and has no friends

      (only joking, i'm sure you are a very nice person in real life)

  2. Wow! by avalys · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    (This story was posted 10 days ago)

    --
    This space intentionally left blank.
  3. gasp! by bedheading · · Score: 0, Redundant

    We've been duped!

  4. Uranus is somewhere near Bangor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject (title)

    1. Re:Uranus is somewhere near Bangor by mizidymizark · · Score: 1

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

  5. Yo Mama Joke Fodder... by NanoGator · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.)

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  6. education? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "What this is really about is science education," McCartney said. I really don't get how a 40 mile scale model is more 'educational' than a jpg printout from nasa.gov.

    1. Re:education? by isorox · · Score: 2, Informative

      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.

    2. Re:education? by ravenousbugblatter · · Score: 1

      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???

    3. Re:education? by MousePotato · · Score: 1

      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...

      --
      Prospecting Stinks. Stop Wasting Time on Cold Calling.
  7. Coincidence, I Think Not! by neuroneck · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    "You were s'posed to laugh!"
    Quote from bottom of page when I accessed this thread.

  8. Ah. Planet Hollywood by AtariAmarok · · Score: 1

    "(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."

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  9. Apologies to Stephen Wright... by Big+Sean+O · · Score: 5, Funny

    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...

    --
    My father is a blogger.
    1. Re:Apologies to Stephen Wright... by morcheeba · · Score: 2, Funny

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

      (+/- 5% tolerance)

      --
      HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
  10. Enough McCartney. What about Lennon? by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny

    ""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.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  11. And if you jog from the sun to the earth.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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?)

    1. Re:And if you jog from the sun to the earth.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and if I take my jpg printout and move my finger from the sun to pluto I would be exceeding warp factor 9. big fucking deal

  12. Model web site by kekoap · · Score: 5, Informative

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

    1. Re:Model web site by shadowbearer · · Score: 1

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

      SB

      --
      It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
  13. Ayuh by leviramsey · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yuh can't get theyuh from heyuh...

  14. Not the biggest . . . by Gruuue · · Score: 3, Informative

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

    --Chris

    1. Re:Not the biggest . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...one in Sweden has Pluto 300km from the Sun.

      A slightly larger one is in Kansas with pluto being 219 miles (352km) from the center.

  15. This "solar system" place seems oddly familiar... by jensend · · Score: 3, Funny

    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)

  16. Psssst...don't tell anyone... by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1, Redundant

    ...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.

    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
  17. Dupe by DaoudaW · · Score: 0, Redundant

    This is a dupe

    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???

  18. Incomplete by DahGhostfacedFiddlah · · Score: 1

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

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

    --
    Last post!
  19. Whats wrong with you people? by Shard013 · · Score: 1

    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.

  20. When School Science Projects Attack by mlush · · Score: 5, Funny

    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"

  21. UK version by vin_petrol · · Score: 2, Informative

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

  22. Re:Boring. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not only is this comment inane, it is a complete waste of hard disk space. Jericho4.0 finds this story boring. Wow. I wonder how interesting he finds the next story. I can't wait.

  23. Re:Dupe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Big deal; your comment is redundant. You point out a dupe story over three hours after at least three other people did (1, 2, and 3).

    What do you want, a cookie?

  24. Universe scale model by zer0vector · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

    --

    ----
    Striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap, will be the leap ho
  25. This is NOT the worlds largest scale model of ... by joshamania · · Score: 1

    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...

  26. Heads by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In August there will also be a scale model of a dust cloud from all the hippie lettuce that is being smoked by all the heads on the way to IT.

    1. Re:Heads by joshamania · · Score: 1

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

  27. GPS for a better larger model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ok.

    Let's one up this:

    Let's make a model that spans the whole of the continent of North America, (or at least populated areas do give us a hope in hell of putting Pluto on in a reasonable amount of time).

    Let's publish the positions of the planets as they actually were for some significant date (Galileo's Birthday in the proper year?), not some model where the planets are all in one line.

    Let's scale those positions onto the continent and publish GPS positions and have some cachers put a nice model of each planet there.

    Peace. Out.

  28. Education ?? by crazygeek · · Score: 1

    "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.

    1. Re:Education ?? by Alizarin+Erythrosin · · Score: 1

      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?

      --
      There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
    2. Re:Education ?? by crazygeek · · Score: 1

      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