Scroll through the planets of this Scale Model as you walk from the center of our Solar System to the Kuiper Belt Dwarf Planet named Pluto...
The Sun
Classification: A Star
Diameter: 864,890 miles (1,391,900 KM)
Scale Diameter: 6.5 inches (165 cm)
Center of our Solar System.
The Sun is a G2V type, yellow dwarf, main sequence star, sitting solidly in the middle, average size and brightness.
70% hydrogen, 28% helium and 2% other metals.
A million Earths can fit in the space of The Sun.
A thousand Jupiters can fit in the space of The Sun.
An Astronomical Unit (AU) is the average distance between Earth and The Sun, which is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.
More information from NASA.
Mercury
Classification: Terrestrial Planet
(A terrestrial planet, telluric planet, or rocky planet is a planet that is composed primarily of silicate rocks or metals.)
Diameter: 3,030 miles (4,878 km)
Distance from Sun: 36,000,000 miles (57,900,000 km)
Distance ranges from 26 to 43 million Miles. (Eccentric and fast orbit)
Scale Diameter: 0.0227 inches (0.5 mm)
Scale Distance from Sun: 22.5 feet (6.8 meters)
Orbital Period: 88 days
Closest Planet to The Sun. Smallest Planet.
Surface temperature ranges from -279 F to 806 F.
More information at NASA/Mercury
Venus
Classification: Terrestrial Planet
Diameter: 7,520 miles (12,104 km)
Distance from Sun: 67,000,000 miles (108,160,000 km)
Scale Diameter: 0.056 inches (1.4 mm)
Scale Distance from Sun: 42 feet (12.8 meters)
Orbital Period: 224 Days
Most circular orbit of all Planets. Cloud layer of sulfuric acid in a carbon dioxide atmosphere.
Third brightest object in Earth's sky.
Visit NASA/Venus for more.
Earth
Classification: Terrestrial Planet (Home)
Diameter: 7,926 miles (12,756 km)
Distance from Sun: 92,960,000 miles (149,600,000 km)
Scale Diameter: 0.059 inches (1.5 mm)
Scale Distance to Sun: 58.25 feet (17.74 meters)
Orbital Period: 365 days (1 year)
The Moon
Diameter: 2,159 miles (3,476 km)
Orbit distance: 225,623 miles (384,403km)
Scale Diameter: 0.016 inches (0.4 mm)
Scale orbit distance: 1.79 inches (4.5 mm)
28 Earths could fit in the space between the Earth and Moon.
All of the other Planets can fit side by side between the Earth and Moon.
We are protected from The Suns strong Solar Energy by our Magnetosphere! Yay Magnetosphere!
More at NASA/Earth
Mars
Classification: Terrestrial Planet
Diameter: 4,222 miles (6,794 km)
Distance from Sun: 141,700,000 miles (227,936,640 km)
Scale Diameter: 0.032 inches (0.8 mm)
Scale Distance from Sun: 88.75 feet (27 meters)
Orbital period: 687 days
Moons: 2
The Red Planet. Most visited planet, aside from Earth. Mars has the largest known volcano in our Solar System - Olympus Mons. (Not in the picture below)
Right now the rover Curiosity is up there - roboting around. Go here to see it's latest reports.
More about Mars at NASA/Mars
Asteroid Belt
Classification: Asteroid Belt
Jupiter
Classification: Jovian Planet
(Gas and ice giants, made of mostly Hydrogen, Helium and Ice in the outer planets with a solid possibly molten core. Not inhabitable, but their Moons are.)
Diameter: 88,846 miles (142,984 km)
Distance from Sun: 483,500,000 miles (778,369,000 km)
Scale Diameter: 0.668 inches (16.9 mm)
Scale Distance from Sun: 302.75 feet (92.29 meters)
Jupiter's largest moon is Europa.
"Europa has the smoothest surface of any known solid object in the Solar System. The apparent youth and smoothness of the surface have led to the hypothesis that a water ocean exists beneath it, which could conceivably harbor extraterrestrial life." !!!!
In the works now, the 'Europa Clipper', our next major exploration of Europa.
Saturn
Classification: Jovian Planet
Diameter: 74,900 miles (120,536 km)
Distance from Sun: 888,750,000 miles (1,427,034,000 km)
Scale Diameter: 0.5437 inches ( 13.8 mm)
Scale Distance from Sun: 555.23 (169.9 meters)
Learn more about Saturn at NASA/Saturn.
Uranus
Classification: Jovian Planet
Diameter: 31,763 miles (51,118 km)
Distance from Sun: 1,783,744,300 miles (2,870,658,186 km)
Scale Diameter: 0.22 inches (5.5 mm)
Scale Distance from Sun: 1117 feet (340.5 meters)
Uranus was the first planet discovered through the use of a telescope.. This icy planet has a 90 degree tilt to its rotation - it is 'on it's side'. And it is the coldest planet in our Solar System - getting as low 55 K (-218 °C/-360 °F).
Neptune
Classification: Jovian Planet
Diameter: 30,779 miles (49,532 km)
Distance from Sun: 2,797,770,000 miles (4,496,976,000 km)
Scale Diameter: 0.2121 inches (5.3 mm)
Scale Distance from Sun: 1751.1 feet (533.7 meters)
Here we are, the last stop on our tour of Our Solar System. You are now in the Kuiper Belt, far, far from home...
Pluto
Classification: Dwarf Planet
Diameter: 1473 miles (2,370 km)
Distance from Sun: 2,756,902,000 to 4,583,190,000 miles (4,436,820,000 to 7,375,930,000 km)
Scale Diameter: 0.01 inches (0.2 mm)
Scale Distance from Sun: 2301 feet (701.36 m)
Visited recently by the New Horizons robot in July of 2015.
Beyond the Scale Model...
The Kuiper Belt
Voyager 1
Distance: 11,780,000,000 miles (19,000,000,000 km)
Speed: 38,000 mph (61,000 km/h)
Below is a famous image that Voyager took, looking back at Earth, a pale blue dot. (hardly visible in the image here - click to learn and see more)
The Oort Cloud
(very estimated)
The Nearest Star
Galactic Center
The Nearest Galaxy
In this scale that is to our planet Uranus from here.
Where to go from here...
Thank you for taking a walk with the Parking Lot Solar System. I hope you found the experience interesting and insightful. Personally, I am in awe of the size of Our Solar System and how we fit into this ever expanding Universe. Even though it is so big, so immensely humongous, it is our actions here on Earth which matter the most. I am happy to have an opportunity to share a passion with my friends. What can you share with us?
Now, travel home and drink some water.