# Anstruther Solar System model

The town of Anstruther, 9 miles South of St Andrews, has a model of the Solar system at a scale of 1 to $10^{10}=10,000,000,000$.

It consists of 11 metal plaques (one for the sun, one for each of the planets and one for each of two minor planets) correctly spaced according to the scale.

Click on each of the pictures below to see a larger version.

Appropriately, the plaques for the Sun and Mercury are on the wall of the Old Sun Tavern. The plaques are about 6 metres apart.

 The Sun is represented by a disc about 14 cm wide. Mercury's plaque is about 6 metres from the Sun's. Venus is represented by a disc about 1 mm wide and its plaque is about 10 metres from the Sun's. Earth is represented by a disc about 1 mm wide and its plaque is about 15 metres from the Sun's. The distance from the earth to the Moon is represented by about 34 mm Mars is represented by a disc about $\large\frac{1}{2}\normalsize$ mm wide and its plaque is about 23 metres from the Sun's. On this scale the minor planet Ceres would be a disc about $\large\frac{1}{10}\normalsize$ mm wide. Its plaque is about 40 metres from the Sun's. Jupiter is represented by a disc about 14 mm wide and its plaque is about 80 metres from the Sun's. Saturn is represented by a disc about about 12 mm wide. Its plaque is about 140 metres from the Sun's. Uranus is represented by a disc about 5 mm wide and its plaque is about 300 metres from the Sun's. Neptune is represented by a disc about about 5 mm wide. Its plaque is about 500 metres from the Sun's. Pluto is too small to be represented at this scale. Its plaque is about 600 metres from the Sun's, though this represents its average distance from the Sun since it has an eccentric orbit.

At this scale the speed of light is 3cm per second, so it takes sunlight about $5\large\frac{1}{2}\normalsize$ hours to reach Pluto.

At this scale, the nearest star (apart from the Sun), Proxima Centauri, is about 4000 km away. That's about in Cairo or Nova Scotia.