A scale-model-of-the-solar-system you walk through. A fixed scale is chosen, the Sun is placed at a starting point, and each planet is installed at its correct proportional distance. Small engraved brass plaques mark each planet and show its scaled distance, actual diameter, and the time light from the Sun takes to reach it. The project is equal parts public art and science: durable, beautiful markers that reward both the intentional visitor and the passer-by, and that reveal the one thing diagrams hide, the solar system is almost entirely empty space.
On a walkable scale the inner planets huddle near the Sun while the outer ones drift impossibly far apart. That gap, the part every diagram quietly deletes, is what you actually walk.
Pick a scale, place the Sun, and install each planet at its true proportional distance. The model isn't on a page, it's the length of a park, a path, a downtown.
Each body is marked by a durable brass plaque: its scaled distance from the Sun, its real diameter, and the light-travel time from the Sun.
Earth lands a few hundred feet from the Sun; Neptune is most of a mile away. Walking the gaps reveals the one thing diagrams hide.
Each marker carries the planet's scaled distance, its true diameter, and how long light from the Sun takes to reach it, real, and unscaled.
From riverfronts to campus quads, communities have laid out their own Local Solar System. Find the one nearest you, or start a new one.
Start one near youEvery marker is engraved to order in solid brass. Tell us your site and scale, we'll handle the math and the metal.
A single plaque, the full nine-marker set, or a fully sited installation, all engraved to order in solid brass. Tell us your site and scale, and we handle the math and the metal.