Real scale of the Solar System

What would the planetary orbits be, if the Sun were as tall as Planetario J.E.R. — Medellin, Colombia, which is 15 m?

The Solar System is usually depicted as a large sphere in the center surrounded by smaller spheres. But how big would the planets really be, and what would their orbits look like, if the Sun were as tall as Planetario J.E.R. — Medellin, Colombia?

measures 15 meters. Using a simple ratio, the scaled distances and diameters are enormous. Find them in the table below.

To make it easier to understand, the map below shows each planet's orbit as a concentric circle around the reference point.

You can also find out where you are in relation to this point.

I hope you enjoy this scaled journey through the Solar System. To request a new location, contact me at @luishernando

🌍 Scale Map — Planetario J.E.R. — Medellin, Colombia

📊 Data Table

➕ Add a new reference point

Choose a building, monument or place meaningful to you as a reference for the Sun. Enter its height and the map will calculate the scaled orbits.

📏 Astronomy measurement unit guide

Astronomy uses different units of measurement to represent extremely large or small sizes and distances. This tool automatically adapts units for easy reading. Below you can see how they relate to each other and what they mean.

Astronomy deals with distances so vast that everyday units like meters or kilometers quickly become impractical. Special units exist to better express the real scale of the universe.

In this tool you will first encounter small measures like millimeters and centimeters, because when scaling giant bodies to human scale many diameters end up comparable to everyday objects. Meters and kilometers also appear for understanding distances within a city.

When distances grow larger, the tool uses the Astronomical Unit or AU, approximately equal to the average distance between Earth and the Sun. Very useful for describing the Solar System without writing enormous numbers.

When distances exceed the Solar System, the light-year and parsec come into play. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year. Despite the word "year" it is a unit of distance, not time. The parsec is even larger and widely used in professional astronomy.

SolarScale automatically converts distances to the easiest-to-read unit. A small orbit may appear in meters, a planetary one in AU, and an interstellar one in light-years or parsecs.

ℹ️ About SolarScale

SolarScale is a science communication tool that transforms the proportions of the Solar System into a comprehensible, visual and geographic experience. Instead of showing planets clustered around the Sun, it asks a far more revealing question: what if the Sun were the size of a building, a dome, an observatory or any place significant to you?

From that reference, the tool recalculates the diameter of the planets, the distance of their orbits and the scale of other celestial objects so they can be understood in the real world. What normally appears as a compact illustration becomes a network of enormous distances spread across streets, neighborhoods, cities and entire regions.

The project aims to correct one of the most misleading ideas in traditional school models: the false sense that planets are close to each other. By bringing the astronomical scale to a real map, SolarScale shows that even when the Sun is reduced to a human size, the space between bodies remains immense.

In addition to exploring existing points, SolarScale allows anyone to add their own reference point. A local building, a house, a plaza, a planetarium or any meaningful structure can become the center of a new Solar System model, personal, shareable and adaptable to different contexts.

SolarScale combines proportional calculation, cartographic visualization and pedagogical interpretation to turn astronomical figures into something that can be imagined, walked and discussed. The tool does not just compare sizes: it helps feel the real magnitude of space.

Developed by LHAR, with gratitude to the Astronomy for All class at the Astronomical Observatory of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

❓ Help

This tool lets you explore how the sizes and orbits of celestial bodies would change if the Sun were the size of a real place on Earth.

How to choose a point

You can select one of the saved models from the side panel or create a new one. When adding a point you can search by name, locate it on the mini-map or type the latitude and longitude manually.

How to read the table

The table shows the real size of each body, its scaled size, and its distance from the Sun. Some very distant objects like the Oort Cloud or Voyager probes only appear in the table, not on the map, because their scale would place them at distances impossible to represent visually.

How to read the map

The map represents the Sun at the central point and draws orbits as scaled circles on the real geography. The farther a planet, the larger the circle radius. The Find me button shows your current position.

How to create your system

Click Add Your System, complete the form, check the location on the mini-map and save. If email is enabled on the server you will receive a direct link to your model to share.