THE SIZES OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM and UNIVERSE  VISUALIZATION SCALES

(1)  THE RELATIVE DIAMETERS OF THE PLANETS

Assuming the Sun (1,392,000 km) to be 1 meter in diameter:

Object    Actual (km)   Scale

Mercury    4,878         4 mm
Venus     12,104         9 mm
Earth     12,756         9 mm
Moon       3,476         3 mm
Mars       6,787         5 mm
Jupiter  142,800       103 mm
Saturn   120,000        86 mm
Uranus    50,800        37 mm
Neptune   48,600        35 mm
Pluto      2,300         2 mm

Assuming the Earth to be 100 mm in diameter:

Sun     1,091 cm (10.9 m)
Mercury    38 mm
Venus      95 mm
Moon       27 mm
Mars       53 mm
Jupiter   112 cm
Saturn     94 cm
Uranus     40 cm
Neptune    38 cm
Pluto      24 mm


(2)  THE RELATIVE DISTANCES OF THE PLANETS

Scale:  25 cm = 150 million km (average distance from Earth to
Sun)

This scale is selected because the Sun and the known planets can
be plotted on a roll of adding machine tape.

On this scale 1 cm = 6 million km; the Sun is 3 mm in diameter,
the Earth .02 mm and the distance from the Earth to the Moon is
64 mm.

The average distances of the planets from the Sun:

Planet    Actual    Actual     Scale
       (mil. km)     (AU*) 
Mercury     57.9      0.39     10 cm
Venus      108.2      0.72     18 cm
Earth      149.6      1.00     25 cm
Mars       227.9      1.52     38 cm
Jupiter    778.3      5.20    1.3 m
Saturn   1,429.4      9.56    2.4 m
Uranus   2,875.0     19.22    4.8 m
Neptune  4,504.0     30.11    7.4 m 
Pluto    5,915.8     39.55   10.0 m

* Astronomical Unit 1 AU = Average Earth to Sun distance


(3)  RELATIVE DISTANCES IN THE UNIVERSE

On the scale used in example 2, one light year (the distance
light travels in one year -- 9 trillion km) would be 12 km, the
distance to the nearest star other than the Sun would be 64 km,
the distance to the center of our galaxy would be 480,000 km, the
distance to the Andromeda galaxy would be 35 million km and the
distance to the farthest known object (a quasar) would be about
200 billion km.