What is the Orientation of the Solar System in the Milky Way?

[Daystar]

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Hi all.
I wanted to make a large scale map of the solar system with all the orbits from Mercury to Pluto to scale on the same sheet. I'll try to get pieces of the orbits of Makemake, Haumea and Eris on the edges too.

All the images I had seen showed either the inner system or the outer system, understandably because the diameter of Pluto's orbit is about 100 times larger than the orbit of Mercury. Then I wanted to indicate the orientation of the plane of most planets related to the plane of Sol's rotation around the Milky Way.

While researching that I stumbled on "Fizixfan's" thread in the Astronomy and Astrophysics forum called "Orientation of the Earth, Sun and Solar System in the Milky Way". I then spent several enjoyable hours reading through the thread, from when it started in October 2016 until the last post in September 2019. I was very impressed with the explanations and descriptions of the structure and dynamics of our galaxy, nearly all expressed in simple language with great diagrams, and with the way the discussions build nicely in a generally constructive way.

And of course I learned a lot, not just about the question that I originally wanted answering but also about many other aspects of the Earth's position in the Solar system and the system's position in our galaxy.

I will post a picture of my "map" when it is finished. I have just learned how to draw elipses, worked out the scale (1cm = 100 million km) and made up the board. I look forward to exploring more of this forum as well as the others.

 

[anorlunda]

Welcome to PF. We appreciate inquiring minds.

 

[sandy stone]

In Gainesville, Florida there is a street either within the University of Florida campus or just adjacent to it, with the relative sizes of the planets' orbits marked off. It's a pretty quick walk from the Sun over to Earth's orbit but it's a LONG way to the outer planets. And they're pretty well separated from each other, too.

 

[berkeman]

How did you find PF?: Google Search

I will post a picture of my "map" when it is finished.

Fun project! We look forward to seeing the result of all of that hard work. Welcome to the PF.

 

[sandy stone]

I also get a kick out of trying to visualize astronomical distances by scaling them down to "human" dimensions. One day I was trying to work out the distance to the nearest star system. If I did the math right: shrink the Sun to the size of a marble (a factor of 10^11). The Earth becomes a barely visible flyspeck about 6 feet away. The orbit of Neptune would just about fit within a soccer field. I live just outside New Orleans, Louisiana, and Alpha Centauri would fall somewhere in the neighborhood of Panama City, Florida - about a 5 hour drive on the Interstate.

 

[DaveC426913]

I live just outside New Orleans, Louisiana, and Alpha Centauri would fall somewhere in the neighborhood of Panama City, Florida - about a 5 hour drive on the Interstate.

And there are no gas stations in Florida, so you'll have to take with you all the gas you'll need to make your return trip!