Wylie Overstreet and Alex Gorosh decided to build the first scale model of the solar system with complete planetary orbits, a true illustration of our place in the universe.
The earth and moon are always pictured close together, when in reality, there is a good amount of distance between them.
In fact, “every single picture of the solar system that we encounter is not to scale.”
“There is literally not an image that adequately shows you what it actually looks like from out there. The only way to see a scale model of the solar system is to build one.”
So, these geniuses went to the middle of nowhere, Black Rock Desert, Nevada—the same place where Burning Man is held—to build a scale model of the solar system.
“To create a scale model with an Earth only as big as this marble, you need seven miles of empty space.” one of them said while holding a marble.
“At this scale, the sun is a meter and a half.”
After placing the sun, they measured out a teeny tiny Mercury. Then Venus, about the same size as Earth. Then Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Sorry, Pluto.
The guys did such a good job with their scale model, that when they stood at Earth’s orbit during sunrise, the rising sun was the same size as their model sun!