Artist and designer Josh Worth created an interactive website called “If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel: A Tediously Accurate Map of the Solar System,” which I mentioned in this post. On Josh Worth’s amazing website, the scale is so large (with the Moon’s diameter being just 1 pixel) that you have to scroll quite a bit to travel through the Solar System.
While this effectively illustrates the vastness of the Solar System, it doesn’t give much insight into the proportional distances between the planets. So, using a similar concept, I created a visual where 1 pixel represents 1 million miles (approximately 1.6 million kilometers) and marked the average distances of the planets from the Sun. I represented the planets themselves with just a line, as at this scale, even Jupiter would be far too small to show as a dot, much less a pixel.
Here’s a scaled visual of the average distances of the planets from the Sun (1 million miles = 1 pixel). I also included the first flyby missions to each planet and their respective dates in the visual.
The scale of the Solar System
The First Flybys of Planets
- Mercury: Mariner 10 (NASA), March 29, 1974.
Mariner 10, launched by NASA on November 3, 1973, was the first spacecraft to perform flybys of multiple planets, targeting Mercury and Venus. Mercury orbits the Sun at a distance of about 36 million miles (58 million kilometers) and completes one orbit in about 88 Earth days. - Venus: Mariner 2 (NASA), December 14, 1962.
Launched on August 27, 1962, Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to successfully encounter another planet, passing as close as 21,607 miles (34,773 kilometers) to Venus after 110 days of flight. Venus is about 67.2 million miles (108.1 million kilometers) from the Sun and orbits it in approximately 224 days. - Earth: Giotto (ESA), July 2, 1990.
Launched on July 2, 1985, the European Space Agency’s Giotto spacecraft was the first deep-space mission to change its orbit by returning to Earth for a gravity-assist maneuver. In 1986, it made the closest approach to the nucleus of Halley’s Comet, capturing the first images of a comet nucleus and finding the first evidence of organic material in a comet. Earth’s average distance from the Sun is about 93 million miles (149.7 million kilometers), and it completes one orbit in approximately 365 days and 6 hours. - Mars: Mariner 4 (NASA), July 15, 1965.
Launched on November 28, 1964, Mariner 4 was the fourth in a series of spacecraft designed for planetary exploration via flyby. It conducted the first close-up scientific observations of Mars and transmitted these observations back to Earth. Mars is about 141.6 million miles (227.9 million kilometers) from the Sun and completes one orbit in approximately 687 days. - Jupiter: Pioneer 10 (NASA), December 3, 1973.
Launched on March 2, 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to make direct observations and obtain close-up images of Jupiter. By the time it reached its target, it had been traveling through space for 21 months, traversing regions of the Solar System never before explored by human-made robots. It made its closest approach to the gas giant on December 3, 1973, passing within 81,000 miles (130,000 kilometers-about one-third of the distance between Earth and the Moon) of the cloud tops. Pioneer 10 then became the first spacecraft to travel through the Asteroid Belt and the first artificial object to achieve escape velocity sufficient to leave the Solar System. After more than 30 years, Pioneer 10’s last, very weak signal was received on January 23, 2003. NASA engineers reported that Pioneer 10’s radioisotope power source had decayed, likely leaving it without enough power to send additional transmissions to Earth. Jupiter’s average distance from the Sun is about 483.6 million miles (778.3 million kilometers), and it completes one orbit in approximately 4,332 days or about 11.86 years.
- Saturn: Pioneer 11 (NASA), September 1, 1979.
Launched on April 5, 1973, Pioneer 11 was the first spacecraft to encounter Saturn, the second to fly through the Asteroid Belt, and the second to fly by Jupiter (following Pioneer 10). Saturn’s average distance from the Sun is about 886.7 million miles (1.427 billion kilometers), and it completes one orbit in approximately 9,617 days or about 26.37 years. - Uranus: Voyager 2 (NASA), January 24, 1986.
At its closest approach, Voyager 2 came within 81,500 kilometers (50,600 miles) of Uranus’ cloud tops. Uranus is, on average, 1.784 billion miles (2.871 billion kilometers) from the Sun and completes one orbit in approximately 30,685 days, or about 84.02 years. - Neptune: Voyager 2 (NASA), August 25, 1989.
Marking the end of the Voyager mission’s Grand Tour of the Solar System’s four giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune), this flyby was a historic first and, so far, a last: No other spacecraft has visited Neptune since. Neptune’s average distance from the Sun is about 2.794 billion miles (4.497 billion kilometers), and it completes one orbit around the Sun in approximately 60,155 days or about 164.79 years.
Sources
- NASA Solar System Exploration website (solarsystem.nasa.gov)
- Giotto mission overview on the European Space Agency website
- Mariner 4 on Wikipedia
- Pioneer 10 on Wikipedia
- Pioneer 11 on Wikipedia
- “Voyager 2’s Historic Neptune Flyby” on the NASA website
