Most pictures of the solar system draw the planets huge and squeeze them close together, so they fit on a page. This page doesn't. From the Sun to Neptune, everything here is drawn to one scale: one pixel on your screen is 2,000 km.
Display · The Sun, to scaleThis is the Sun. That speck is Earth: 109 Earths would fit across the Sun's face.Experience
The long scroll
Scroll down and you travel outwards from the Sun. The planets arrive at their true spacing. It is a long way: Neptune is 2,249,198 pixels down. Use the buttons on the screen to jump from planet to planet, or to travel at the speed of light. The experiments wait at Earth, at Jupiter and at Neptune.
Predict first. If Neptune is at the bottom of this page, how far down is Jupiter?
SimplifiedSizes and distances are to one scale, 1 pixel = 2,000 km, but labels and rings are not. The planets sit at their average distance from the Sun, lined up in a row; in reality they are spread around their orbits and never line up like this.
From the Sun0.000AU
Sunlight takes0.00 s
Here: Sun0.0million km
4 h 10 min to Neptune
The solar system to one scale, 1 pixel to 2,000 km, from the Sun to Neptune. In order outwards:
Sun: 0.00 AU, sunlight takes 0.00 s.
Mercury: 0.39 AU, sunlight takes 3 min 13 s.
Venus: 0.72 AU, sunlight takes 6 min 1 s.
Earth: 1.00 AU, sunlight takes 8 min 19 s.
Mars: 1.52 AU, sunlight takes 12 min 40 s.
Jupiter: 5.20 AU, sunlight takes 43 min 16 s.
Saturn: 9.54 AU, sunlight takes 1 h 19 min.
Uranus: 19.19 AU, sunlight takes 2 h 40 min.
Neptune: 30.07 AU, sunlight takes 4 h 10 min.
Notes along the way:
Everything on this page is drawn to one scale: 1 pixel is 2,000 km. Keep scrolling.
Nothing here. Most of the solar system is empty space.
Driving at 100 km/h, you would reach Neptune in about 5,100 years.
The gap from Mars to Jupiter is wider than the whole way from the Sun to Mars.
Textbook pictures draw the planets huge and close together. This is what the spacing really looks like.
The sunlight here left the Sun 44 minutes ago.
From here on, each giant planet is roughly twice as far out as the one before.
You are halfway to Neptune.
This one gap, 10.9 AU, is wider than everything from the Sun to Saturn (9.5 AU).
Voyager 2 took 12 years to get here: launched 20 August 1977, past Neptune 25 August 1989.
Stop · Earth, 1.00 AU from the Sun
Distance paused while you're here. Sunlight took 8 min 19 s to reach this point. Three questions about our own corner: why we have seasons, why the Moon changes shape, and why eclipses don't happen every month.
Earth is closest to the Sun in January. So why is January winter in the north?
Tilt Earth and move it round its orbit. The readouts show what the Sun does over one place: how high it climbs at noon and how long it stays up.
Experiment
Seasons
Earth is closest to the Sun in January. So why is January winter in the north?
Goal Give Sydney its summer in December
Predict first. Why is summer warmer than winter?
Not tried yetTop of the atmosphere · no weather
Why does the Moon change shape through the month?
Here is the Moon going round Earth, seen from far above, with sunlight coming from the left. On the right is what you see from Earth. Start the Moon and stop it when it is at first quarter: half lit, with the right half bright.
Experiment
Phases of the Moon
Why does the Moon change shape through the month?
Goal Stop the Moon at first quarter
Predict first. What makes the Moon look like a crescent?
Not tried yetSeen from the northern hemisphere
The Moon passes the Sun every month. Why isn’t there an eclipse every month?
The Moon passes between Earth and the Sun at every new moon. Step from new moon to new moon, starting today, and watch where it passes. These are the real dates.
Experiment
Eclipse alignment
The Moon passes the Sun every month. Why isn’t there an eclipse every month?
Goal Find the next solar eclipse
Predict first. How often is there a solar eclipse somewhere on Earth?
Not tried yetReal dates from today · eclipses seen from anywhere on Earth
Keep scrolling to leave Earth. Mars is next, then a long gap to Jupiter.
Stop · Jupiter, 5.20 AU from the Sun
Distance paused while you're here. You are 17% of the way to Neptune. The four rocky planets sit inside the first twentieth of the way.
How many Earths would fit inside Jupiter?
Jupiter is the biggest planet. Here it is cut in half, with Earth beside it at the same scale. Pour Earths in until it is full.
Experiment
Sizes side by side
How many Earths would fit inside Jupiter?
Goal Fill Jupiter with Earths
Predict first. How many Earths fit inside Jupiter?
Not tried yetJupiter and Earth to one scale
Keep scrolling. Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are far apart: each is roughly twice as far out as the one before.
The end of the long scroll · Neptune, 30.07 AU from the Sun
What just happened
Most people put Jupiter far too close. The four rocky planets are bunched within the first twentieth of the way, and each giant planet is roughly twice as far out as the one before. Light, the fastest thing there is, takes over four hours to cross this page.
The real numbers
Scale: 1 px = 2,000 km. Neptune's average distance is 30.07 AU = 4.498 billion km = 2,249,198 px (JPL).
Light travels 299,792 km/s, which is 150 px/s here, so it takes 4 h 10 min to scroll from the Sun to Neptune at light speed.
This page is about 2.25 million px tall. Firefox stops laying out anything taller than about 8.9 million px, so Voyager 1, a light-day away, would not fit at this scale.
You just crossed this in a few minutes of scrolling. Voyager 2 took twelve years, and that was with free speed-ups from four planets.
Where are the planets right now, and how fast do they go round?
Now step back and see all eight planets from above, where they really are today. Run time forward and watch the inner planets race while the outer ones crawl.
Experiment
The orrery
Where are the planets right now, and how fast do they go round?
Goal Run time until Earth overtakes Mars
Not tried yetReal positions from today · seen from above
End of The Neighbourhood · Ends with how far apart everything is