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A Docent's Guide to Our Solar System...
DISCLAIMER: I am a proud Tour Guide/Docent at the AMNH. The opinions, images, and links on my website do not represent the Museum in any official capacity. This website page is a personal labor of love. It represents a life-long interest in the natural sciences and in a Museum that has been the foundation for a lifetime of learning. I urge you to visit the American Museum of Natural History’s website for further information about exhibitions and the sciences: www.amnh.org.
- For many years, museums around the world--such as the American Museum of Natural History in New York--have given a simulated tour of the Solar System, often called “Earth as a Peppercorn” or “The Thousand Yard Solar System.” Whatever name is used, the experience attempts to give visitors not only a sense of the size of objects in our System but the vast distances as well.
- This section of my website is meant to be a handy reference--a summary of facts regarding the Sun and each of the major planets and their moons, as well as important dwarf planets, the Asteroid Belt, the Kuiper Belt, the Oort Cloud, and the mysterious Planet Nine. The following websites provided the information.
- Space: https://www.space.com
- The Planets: https://theplanets.org
- Space Facts: https://space-facts.com
- NASA: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov
- Universe Today: https://www.universetoday.com
- Astronomy Trek: https://www.astronomytrek.com/
- The purpose of these pages is to provide a resource for docents and educators--not only those involved with the “Earth as a Peppercorn” tour, but those who include planetariums or Space Halls in their repertoire. The pages in the drop down menu are meant to be "soup starters." Further research is always encouraged.
THE THOUSAND YARD MODEL:
0 paces: Sun10 paces (each pace measuring about 8 to 10 inches): MercuryAnother 9 paces: VenusAnother 7 paces: EarthAnother 14 paces: MarsAnother 95 paces: JupiterAnother 112 paces: SaturnAnother 249 paces: UranusAnother 281 paces: NeptuneAnother 242 paces: Pluto and Kuiper Belt ObjectsAnother 500 to 1500 paces: Oort Cloud Objects.
- THE SUN: a ball, diameter 8.00 inches
- MERCURY: a pinhead, diameter 0.03 inch
- VENUS: a peppercorn, diameter 0.08 inch
- EARTH: a second peppercorn
- MARS: a second pinhead
- JUPITER: a chestnut or a pecan, diameter 0.90 inch
- SATURN: a hazelnut or an acorn, diameter 0.70 inch
- URANUS: a peanut or coffee bean, diameter 0.30 inch
- NEPTUNE: a second peanut or coffee bean
0 paces: Sun10 paces (each pace measuring about 8 to 10 inches): MercuryAnother 9 paces: VenusAnother 7 paces: EarthAnother 14 paces: MarsAnother 95 paces: JupiterAnother 112 paces: SaturnAnother 249 paces: UranusAnother 281 paces: NeptuneAnother 242 paces: Pluto and Kuiper Belt ObjectsAnother 500 to 1500 paces: Oort Cloud Objects.