Solar System -- Size And Distance

Next week many of us will be celebrating Sankranti and welcoming our Sun to the North (Utharaayanam).

Our sun controls our very existence – we curse its sweltering heat during summer and yearn its warmth during cold winters.

We’ve seen pictures of the Sun and its family of planets in books and magazines. We have read how big and how far the Sun is terms of kilometers or miles; same about our planets.

But really, could we capture the true size and relative distances of the Sun and planets in the limited areas of our books or even computer screens?

Here is a small exercise that can be done when we go out on family/friend picnics or any outdoor area.

Let us reduce the Sun to the size of a basketball? How big would each planet be to its relative size and how far from each other would they be?

I have used a 5.5 meter standard saree size to explain this.

If our sun were a basketball:

• Mercury – smaller than a poppy seed 10 meters away – 1.8 saree distance
• Venus – smaller than a mustard seed and 19 meters away – 3.5 saree distance
• Earth – mustard seed and 26 meters away – 4.7 saree distance
• Mars – Poppy seed – 40 meters – 7.2 saree distance
• Jupiter – slightly smaller than a ping-pong ball - 136 meters – 24.7 saree distance
• Saturn – Slightly smaller than Jupiter - 250 meters – 45 saree distance
• Uranus – - green pea - 501 meters – 91 saree distance
• Neptune – green pea - 786 meters – 143 saree distance

You can have fun with this information. Ask children to choose different objects - mustard seeds, coriander seeds, peas, pepperorns, pingpong balls, to first test their concrption of the planets' sizes and even distances. Then show them the correct objects in relation to the size and how far these tiny objects have to be placed.

You may not be able to go beyond Mars, at the most Jupiter.

Will give a good perspective of how vast our solar system is and how huge our Sun is.

Have fun.

Disclaimer: the relative distances may not be exactly correct after conversion to meters from the original source. The intent is to give a general idea of the vastness of the solar system.

Information source: Size Scales in Astronomy

 

Thanks for the likes @Gauri03 and @jskls


I had decided to continue if I get just one like. I have two, which is great.

 

Here is the second article - on our sun.

Solar System - Ii - Our Sun

 

Thank you @jskls
Part II on the solar system - The sun is here Solar System - Ii - Our Sun

 

Good question.
The answer is the second option.

Note that not all solar flares or coronal mass ejections have to come our way.

Lifespans of man-made satellites range between a minimum of five years to a maximum of 20 years. Work is being done to extend the life span of these satellites to save money and also to control the dead-satellite debris currently circling our earth.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, Space Weather Center, and other agencies have developed capabilities to predict solar flares and coronal mass ejections that head our way to warn all the nations that have their satellites circling the earth. This is collaborative effort by all the nations of the world to help each other.

On receipt of these warnings, the mission control folks for each satellite will take preventive measures to protect their equipment. Satellites are also built to be resilient. There is a "Faraday-Cage" built in to protect the equipment - the sun's high energy particles lose their strength as they encounter specially designed circuit dividers, individual compartments, and other unique structural elements that act as barriers.

It is not just satellites, but our airlplanes that fly at much lower altitude also are affected by solar storms heading our way. Pilots are warned about this and their routes are reworked during these times.

Trust this answers your question.

 

Thank you @girvani
The target readership of my articles are the young children.
Hence the very simplified version.
The intent is not to give lectures but to light that spark in them. Hope at least one child pursues interest in space and becomes an expert.

For me this is a labor of love.

I had visited elementary schools to give one hour talk to fifth graders as part of the STEMM movement.
The experience has been heart warming.
To watch the range of emotions on the children's rapt faces in awe of our huge sun on their classroom screen, and their amazement when we show them how far our moon is, and other information is priceless.

 

Thank you @justanothergirl JAG.
Yes, It was one day when I was hanging the saree down the landing banister that I thought "wow how long this material is, even folded in half!"

The realization was staggering - a tiny mustard seed 4 saree lengths away from any given point...
How can any alien pick us up- a mere dust in this vast world to come and attack us?