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The Sweden Solar System

swedensolarsystem.se

349 pointse_proxus72 comments

This is super cool! I’ve lived in Stockholm for almost 15 years and I had no idea about this.

Just for fun I plotted the route on google maps. I have my doubts I’ll be able to convince my wife this is a worth-while road trip...

https://goo.gl/maps/TYTSnCVA9Vi8s4MMA

Yeah this is great right! We stumbled on Halley's Comet at the local science museum here in Skövde and it'll really spice up travel around Sweden for the kids a bit.

Do they move Halley's Comet? Its period is short enough that a decade makes a real noticeable difference in its distance from the sun, and its total period is shorter than some science museums have been open.

You should definitely be able to convince her this is a road trip to take! On the way you will pass the lovely Virgin coast archipelago as well as be able to visit the UNESCO world heritage sites Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland and the High Coast. Go for the road trip!

Unrelated, but what do you think of Stockholm after 15 years? What part of the world were you coming from before you moved there?

I only spent a few months there, but I usually tell people it's a hard city to hate.

Been here 20 years. Like Stockholm, hate Stockholm_ers_

Knew about the solar system model though.

16 years, also knew about it. Although didn't know it went past Arlanda. I'm married to a Stockholmer. They are not as fun as us anglo-saxons, but have different qualities.

> hate Stockholm_ers_

I hear good things about Gothenburg

Stockholm was my first love at first sight. I moved here in 2006 after a particularly long and cold winter. The day I arrived, it was a bright blue sunny sky, with a temperature just around freezing. I walked around these incredibly beautiful snow covered islands and over the frozen lake mälaren. I almost crossed over the ice between the islands of södermalm to kungsholmen, about 300 meters or so, but I chickened-out about half way through and turned back. I could have made it. There were fresh tracks from other people who had made it across that I was following. I’ve never seen the lake in kind condition since - Just one of the small regrets in life.

I work in IT and Stockholm has been fantastic for my career. The Scandinavian countries are well-known for their advanced digitalization. Being a foreigner with a particularly non-Swedish approach to problem solving has helped me a great deal.

I grew up in Australia but I’ve also lived and worked in London, Copenhagen and Singapore. One of the things I learned after living in as many places as I have, is that it’s as personal as your taste in music, or food, or anything else.

Stockholm and Sweden is not without it’s problems though. Immigration is screwed up, taxes are high, and there are parts of the city I avoid. But no where is perfect. I know the problems here and I prefer them to the problems I’ve had living in other places.

Poetic anecdote, really enjoyed it.

Immigration is screwed in what way ?

....asking the immigrant?

What's a non-Swedish approach to problem solving, and perhaps even more curiously, what's a Swedish approach to problem solving?

One of the things I was most surprised with when I visited there was that it seemed like it was a vastly lower percentage of cigarette smokers, I kept walking around wondering somethings different, and then I realized, people weren’t smoking! I later looked up the statistics online just to see if I was just imagining it, it appears that I was not.

Feels like part of the "hidden gems" tour. I live in Sweden for 8 years. I've been to an observatory and planetarium. I regularly visited Stockholm. I asked friends in arts. Nobody seems to know about this.

Kind of embarrassing to find out about the SSS from HN.

Two years ago I visited Stockholm and rode a borrowed bike from the Sun (Globen) out to Mars (Mörby Centrum) and visited all the planets along the way. Life goal is to do the entire thing.

Trip only took a few hours and there are plentiful bike lanes to reach that far. Along the way, or on the way back, check out the Hagaparken, Natural History Museum, and campus of Stockholm University.

I don't understand the Jupiter model, as shown. Not that it needs to make sense to me.

It'd be super cool to have multiple depictions of each planet. Like all the school kids along Mars' orbit could all make their own Mars.

I get the impression that few of the planets are necessarily considered permanent installations, but rather sculptures that may get replaced over time.

> Jupiter was for many years represented by an arrangement of flowers outside Sky City at Arlanda Airport. In may 2019 a new model was inaugurated in Hotel Clarion connected to Sky City. The model is in the form of a shining ring

To my great regret, I never saw either Jupiter model at Arlanda, despite being there those years, because I always arrive last-minute to the airport. Next time...

Last time I was through Arlanda, I tried finding the Jupiter model. Foudn (I think) the right hotel and multiple Jupiterian moons, but not Jupiter itself.

In 2018 or 2019, I did a public transport tour from the Sun out to Mars. I found it quite fun.

Also in the Boston Area. The sun, Mercury and Venus are in the Museum of Science. Earth is supposed to be in the Royal Sonesta hotel, but I believe it was moved to clean the area and never put back. Mars is in the Galleria mall, Jupiter is at South Station, and the rest of the planets are much further out. More details at https://www.bostoncentral.com/activities/landmarks/p1018.php

> Earth is supposed to be in the Royal Sonesta hotel, but I believe it was moved to clean the area and never put back.

Ha, that is straight out of a Douglas Adams book.

In Boston it's called the Big Dig

Sadly it seems like a few of them are missing these days from the Boston equivalent: https://gregcookland.com/wonderland/2018/02/09/community-sol...

Apparently there are lots of these kinds of things around the world. I never knew that.

There's one in the Helsinki area in Finland as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pajam%C3%A4ki_Solar_System_Sca...

The funny thing is that its most central parts (the Sun and the inner planets) are in the least central location, in a wooded area in the suburbs, close to an industrial zone. Many other similar models seem to have placed the planetary monuments in public buildings or plazas. Helsinki? Yeah, we'll place it in the middle of the woods next to a bunch of garages.

(The reason for the location of the Sun might actually be that, according to the Wikipedia article, the model was designed by an amateur astronomer who has had his own observatory in the area. The model of Sun is also on a hill, which is nice and might make it more visible from further away except that, you know, it's not actually emitting a ridiculous amount of light.)

There's one with a 1 to 10 billion scale in Washington, D.C. The sun is located just outside the Air and Space Museum. Well worth your time to check out!

https://www.jeffreybennett.com/model-solar-systems/voyage-sc...

Melbourne has one too: http://thenomadicexplorers.com/sites/default/files/users/65/...

(Not as big as the one in Sweden though)

> Not as big as the one in Sweden though

Not as big? Meh. It's a Megameter per millimeter! Yay![1] :)

[1] http://www.clarifyscience.info/assets/2017-Atoms/assets0/r/1... Old user test video I did - Powers of Ten-like, but with 3 order-of-magnitude chunking. Crufty source: http://www.clarifyscience.info/part/Atoms#how-to-remember-si...

There are many of them around the world, maybe even near you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System_model#Scale_model...

I live in Zagreb, Croatia, and we have "Nine Views": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Views

Yeah, the one in Zagreb has a much cooler story, I think. Plus it's really interesting to walk around town and discover all the planets.

I'm shocked how many Swedes (and Stockholmers in particular) don't know this.

They just think that Globen (the Sun) is just a big spherical venue.

EDIT - but to be fair there is also a surprising lack of signage or announcement that such a thing exists.

I mean, it's not super weird to see a globe structure somewhere and assume it's just a globe without being part of some elaborate country-wide solarsystem. Here is a tiny list of some more, but I'm sure there exists 1000s more around the world: https://second.wiki/wiki/liste_kugelfc3b6rmiger_bauwerke

Well, if it was empty then it would be strange, but it's a venues hall for concerts, etc., and people could've just thought it's just the architects being creative.

Stayed in a hotel near the Ericsson Globe. No clue.

When I saw the tiny Venus (or was it Mercury?) on a pedestal in downtown Stockholm, I suspected something was up.

I don't think it was built this way with the intention to symbolize the Sun. Making it the center of a model Solar System was probably more of an afterthought (although a really cool one).

I mean, it is a big spherical venue. Representing the Sun is more of a secondary use.

Globen just means literally "the globe".

Globen doesn't mean the sun in Swedish. It's just The Sphere. But yes, I had no idea about this.

>> Pluto and Charon are supported by two tomb-like pillars reminding of the mythological meaning of Pluto (Hades), the god of the underworld.

And if anyone even thinks about removing that monument I will lead a total boycott of all Swedish educational institutions.

In all seriousness, public art is how science and government present ideas. How planets are depicted, or not, modifies public behavior and thinking towards science. I do not want to see public art be used to promote one team of scientists over another[1] as they fight for naming rights to objects. The Swedish Solar System seems to have taken a very neutral stance on naming conventions, addressing most objects only by given name. It should stay that way.

[1] "Planetary scientists" v. "Astronomers" as to who gets to classify objects. It is two increasingly different teams.

One in Gainesville, Georgia, USA: https://www.exploregeorgia.org/gainesville/entertainment/tou...

I hadn’t appreciated that Saturn is almost twice as far from the Sun as Jupiter is, or how far out Uranus and Neptune are. Here’s another representation (although obviously the planet sizes are way wrong): https://fineartamerica.com/featured/solar-system-distances-t...

The spacing of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune actually seem quite natural in that image. It's the cluster of tiny rocks near the sun that distorts our perception!

I think there's an under-appreciated pattern to the distances: https://wordloosed.com/the-planets

We have something similar here in my home town, at a smaller scale [0], along local bike paths. You get from the sun to Mars in what seems like no time at all, but the distance from Neptune to Pluto is a little over 2/5ths of the entire ride.

[0] 200M:1 http://www.spaceplace.wisc.edu/planettrek.htm

"If the Moon were only 1 Pixel" gives a good sensation of the distances through the medium of scrolling:

https://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem....

Edit: Notice the option to travel at lightspeed.... this isn't quite as exciting as you might think.

Except if you could really approach lightspeed the distances would approach zero, so there’s that.

Time dilation as well, which probably helps ;-)

wow. you get a lot more respect for gravity after seeing that. basically, in empty space, i could exert an influence on a bottlecap 10,000 miles away. or something like that, the numbers are entirely irrelevant.

New Zealand has one too: https://www.otagocentralrailtrail.co.nz/ride/an-interplaneta...

It's hundred million to one, so the scale speed of light is a little under 3 m/s (10.8 kmh). So at a very comfortable cycling speed you're moving at twice the speed of light. Exactly as AnIdiotOnTheNet says you get through the inner planets in no time flat but it takes forever to get through the outer ones.

there's one in my hometown (Zagreb) as well!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Views

Here's some blogpost with nice pictures

https://punkufer.dnevnik.hr/galerija/gdje-se-u-zagrebu-nalaz...

I was just going to write that there's one in Zurich too (https://www.zuerich.com/en/visit/sport/planet-trail located in a very enjoyable area, highly recommend) but thanks to your wikipedia link I found a comprehensive list of them:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System_model

Looks like Sweden's model is in fact the largest in the world(that is apart from the original)

There is also a model in and around the natural history museum in Gothenburg, Sweden. Some of the planets are close to some really good MTB trails in the nearby forest Änggårdsbergen!

https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6teborgs_Naturhistoriska...

Peoria, Illinois has one too and claims the "world's most complete large-scale model of the Solar System. The scale factor is 99,000,000:1, covering 6,000 square miles of Central Illinois."[0] and you can "become a part of the world's most complete large scale model of the Solar System by purchasing an Unnamed Comet Plaque in the Peoria Riverfront Museum Store. Unnamed comet plaques are located on all seven continents, stretching as far north as Barrow, Alaska, and as far south as South Pole Station, Antarctica."[1]

[0] https://www.peoriariverfrontmuseum.org/dome-planetarium/comm...

[1] https://www.peoriariverfrontmuseum.org/dome-planetarium/comm...

There's one in Ithaca, NY (home of Cornell univ) as well. It's spread over 1.2 km, and is just a fun walk. [1]

Ithaca is just such a wonderful place to live, winters included!

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagan_Planet_Walk

Someone also built a scale model of the solar system in the desert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj4524AAZdE

Cody put a few solar system objects on a stadium, with distances to scale, the sun is represented by a pea. He then proceeds to drive cross country to put on the closest stars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCSIXLIzhzk

One in Prague (CZ): https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/9092952

When my daughter was in elementary school, she and I prepared a presentation where her teacher would be the sun, a soccer ball Jupiter, a volleyball saturn, and so on. Earth was a blue marble, moon a playdoh pellet. Distances where trickier and we did our best to associate them with local landmarks: bakery, park, ... Quite a bit of fun. For some time we kept calling the soccer ball Jupiter.

Göttingen has the Planetenweg, a 1:2 billion-scale solar system

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/planetenweg-gottingen

Eugene, Oregon, USA http://members.efn.org/~jack_v/

Would be sweet if they had the Voyager spacecrafts too.

At this scale, Voyager 1 would be in Tromsø, Norway. Truly, it has departed the solar system!

There’s one in northern Maine along Route 1 from Houlton to Presque Ise. Very cool, I annoy the kids with my excitement every time.

My favorite part of that one is the tiny Pluto IIRC mounted on a plaque on a rest stop wall.

Pluto in Delsbo, Sweden is pretty nice as well, but it made me more interested in the larger Eris, that is further north.

It extends to Topsfield. At the intersection of Route 1 and Route 6 there's a model of Eris.

lol.. I was jumping back and forth between mercury, venus, and earth everyday during my two years stay in Stockholm 6 years ago. I had no clue this thing exists!

-Mars is connected to a plate in steel symbolizing the Earth.

Never heard of this before - amazing!

/a swede

Same here, and neither did my gf even though we've both been there and spent a good +30 years a residents of Sweden. Really cool!

How true to scale is it?

amazing idea

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