LOCAL SOLAR SYSTEM
LOCAL SOLAR SYSTEM
A scientific art installation

WALK THE
SOLAR SYSTEM

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.

About

WHAT IS A LOCAL SOLAR SYSTEM?

The Local Solar System is a work of art: our solar system, sculpted at true scale across the landscape around you. The Sun and each planet stand as permanent installations, placed at distances that preserve the true proportions of space. At this scale, walking from one planet to the next reveals something no diagram can: the solar system is mostly empty. Each piece shares the planet's scaled size, its real distance from the Sun, and how long light takes to travel there.

01

YOU WALK IT

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.

02

ENGRAVED IN BRASS

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.

03

EMPTINESS, FELT

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.

THE EMPTY SPACE
IS THE POINT

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.

927 ft
Sun to Neptune, at scale
8.75 cm
The Sun's scaled diameter
0.08 cm
Earth, a grain of sand
4h 10m
Light, Sun to Neptune (real)
Calculate Your Own
LOCAL SOLAR SYSTEM
SUN
the center of it all
Distance
0 ft
Diameter
8.75 cm
Light
·
EST. 2026
Plaques

PLANETS INSTALLED AT SCALE

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.