We walked from the Sun to Pluto this afternoon with Katie. Most people would have thought we were just walking down a street, but anyone who observed closely would have seen we were pacing off the astronomical units between planets and laying down planets to scale. Earth is a peppercorn; Jupiter is a chestnut; the Sun is a balloon.

It’s an amazing way to get a real feel for the sizes and distances in our solar system. Mercury, Venus, and Earth are approximately one Japanese storefront apart. Mars is two away. Jupiter is almost to twenty shops down the street from Mars. I’ll bet you didn’t know that Uranus is halfway between the Sun and Pluto. Take the walk and find out for yourself. Posted by kuri at December 24, 2001 09:57 PM