Solar System Walk: SPC Seminole Campus

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are found along the path to the west of the Sun patio, with Jupiter around the corner. Continue straight past the pavilion to find Saturn and its rings, then around the pond to the north for Uranus and Neptune. THE SOLAR SYSTEM TO SCALE Each planet on the solar system walk is represented by a concrete marker on the ground near each sign. The sizes of the planet markers are all on the same scale as the Sun, represented by the large round patio. You can compare the size of each planet marker to another nearby planet or the Sun patio if they are within sight of each other. However, the distances between the planets and the Sun in our solar system are too far to use the same scale. Mercury alone would be a half mile away. So, the distance scale is 100 times smaller than the size scale. Therefore, walking 1 foot on the path represents about 1.5 million miles. In other words, every planet you see on the solar system walk should be 100 times farther away from the Sun patio.

Sun

Diameter: 865,370 miles (1,392,678 km)

Our Sun is about 865,370 miles in diameter. Reduce its size so that one foot equaled 15,000 miles and it would be 60 feet across ‐ the same diameter across as the Sun patio. It would also extend 30 feet into the ground and 30 feet into the air ‐ about the height of the library. The Sun is almost perfectly round, so our Sun patio represents a cross-section of the Sun at any angle.

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The solar system walk starts at the west edge of the Sun patio. Look for a 2.5-inch round concrete marker on the ground along the path about 25 feet away. This is Mercury ‐ the first and smallest planet on our solar system walk.

Mercury

Diameter: 3,032 miles (4,880 km)
Average distance from the Sun: 36,000,000 miles (57,900,000 km)

Shrink Mercury by the same factor as the Sun and it would be about 2.5 inches in size. Next to the 60-foot Sun patio, you can see how small Mercury is compared to the Sun.

The sizes of the Sun and the 8 planets on our solar system walk are all reduced to the same scale.

The distances are reduced even further (100 times more) to make the walk much more reasonable. Otherwise, the Mercury marker would have to be a half mile away from the Sun patio!

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Venus

Diameter: 7,520 miles (12,104 km)
Average distance from the Sun: 67,200,000 miles (108,200,000 km)

Venus is significantly larger than Mercury, as seen by comparing the markers for each.

The average distance of Venus from the Sun is about twice that of Mercury. Our reduced distance scale puts the marker for Venus at about 47 feet from the Sun patio, but it should be almost 1 mile away.

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Earth

Diameter: 7,918 miles (12,742 km)
Average distance from the Sun: 93,000,000 miles (149,600,000 km)

Notice that Earth and its sister planet Venus are the same size. The Earth marker is 64 feet from the Sun patio but should be 6,400 feet away near the baseball field at Seminole High School.

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Mars

Diameter: 4,212 miles (6,780 km)
Average distance from the Sun: 141,600,000 miles (227,900,000 km)

Mars is closer in size to Mercury than Earth.

In our scale model of the solar system, Mars is 98 feet from the Sun. Mars should really be almost 2 miles away in Boca Ciega Millennium Park. Luckily, the four giant planets in our solar system walk are within walking distance, with Jupiter around the corner.

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The area between Mars and Jupiter is where most of the asteroids in the solar system are found. At the size scale of 1 foot ≈ 15,000 miles, the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt would be only a quarter of an inch in diameter. Perhaps you can find some very small pebbles along the way to represent large asteroids.

Jupiter

Diameter: 88,846 miles (139,822 km)
Average distance from the Sun: 483,600,000 miles (778,600,000 km)

Near a bench by the athletic field is a 6-foot-wide model of Jupiter. This is the largest planet in the solar system and yet it is still one tenth the diameter of the Sun.

Our model of Jupiter is 334 feet from the Sun patio but should be over 6 miles away ‐ about as far away as the planetarium on the SPC Gibbs campus in St Petersburg.

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Walk straight past the pavilion along the pond to find a representation of Saturn and some of its rings.

Saturn

Diameter: 74,900 miles (116,464 km)
Average distance from the Sun: 886,700,000 miles (1,433,500,000 km)

The planet Saturn is slightly smaller than Jupiter, but its ring system is quite large. The ring you see in the model represents multiple ring systems (A, B, C and D). If every ring observed by spacecraft was included, our model would extend anywhere from 40 feet across to as much as ten times that distance. You can see why only the innermost rings are presented here.

Saturn is about 615 feet away from the Sun patio but should be located over 11.6 miles away, near the St. Petersburg Pier.

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Note: The next two planets are at least a 20-minute roundtrip walk to the northern edge of campus.

Uranus

Diameter: 31,763 miles (50,724 km)
Average distance from the Sun: 1,784,000,000 miles (2,872,500,000 km)

Uranus is a smaller gas planet found in the outer solar system. Our model for Uranus is about 2 feet across. The Sun patio is not visible from here, but Uranus is 1230 feet away. At this scale, Uranus should be over 23 miles away near downtown Tampa.

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Neptune

Diameter: 30,775 miles (49,244 km)
Average distance from the Sun: 2,794,000,000 miles (4,495,100,000 km)

Neptune is almost identical to Uranus in size and composition, making our model for Neptune also about 2 feet across. The Sun patio is not visible from here, but Neptune is 1937 feet away. At this scale, Neptune should be almost 37 miles away in Sarasota. Neptune is the farthest from the Sun of all the major planets in the solar system.

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And what about Pluto?

For many years after its discovery, Pluto was classified as the ninth planet in our solar system. It was not until the discovery of several other small planets in the outer solar system that Pluto's status as a major planet was put into question. These smaller planets, including Pluto, were reclassified as dwarf planets.

So, Pluto is still a planet. But if Pluto was represented on the solar system walk, it would have to be somewhere off campus!

Thank you for exploring!

Please contact Dr. Bruce McClintock at mcclintock.bruce@spcollege.edu regarding the Solar System Walk at the SPC Seminole campus.

Credits: Sun and planet images courtesy of NASA; web designer - Chad Mairn