Typical images of the solar system are NOT to scale, showing the planets at grossly exaggerated sizes. Here is a typical case, HT Wikimedia, WP and Planet User:
So, some video makers did a little project to show it to scale, out to Neptune . . . beyond, lies vastly more of course, but Pluto has been demoted to “dwarf planet.”
A Pandemic Sunday reflection from scripture comes to mind:
Psalm 19:1The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.[KJV]
Food for thought. END
PS: Of course, someone will be bound to take up the talking point that the vastness of the cosmos points to the insignificance of man, typically tied to the Copernican demotion from the centre of the cosmos. Such is triply wrong. For one, as Ptolemy and others put it, in his geocentric model, the scale of the earth — calculated since Eratosthenes — as a ratio to the sphere of the fixed stars is as a mathematical point. Taken literally, infinity; it probably was figurative but shows that immensity was understood 2,000+ years ago. Second, Copernicus PROMOTED us from the sump of the cosmos to the heavens, alongside the other moving stars. Third, as Psalm 19 reminds, the true centre is the Creator God, whose heavens declare his glory and whose creature, man, reflects his image and should seek enlightenment of the heart from his Source and Sustainer.
The Solar System, to scale, on a dry lakebed — miles and miles across with Earth at the scale of a marble
KF,
Thank you for the very interesting post and for the timely reflection from the Scriptures.
Amen!
Apocalypse 22:21
This is very cool. Students at a nearby school did a similar project where the sun was represented by a circle (or part of a circle) drawn on the floor of the main building. The planets were represented by things like baseballs, marbles, etc, all to scale. You had to walk out to the football field and beyond to find all the planets.
KF,
Your quoting Psalm 19 from the KJV reminded me of a popular song that quoted Psalms 137 and 19:14. I think the song was composed and performed originally by Jamaican musicians in the early 1970s and popularized in Europe by a German-Caribbean group in the late 1970s. They performed that song behind the iron curtain in Moscow in 1978 and again in the Intervision festival in Sopot, Poland, in 1979.
Back then I had no idea what the lyrics meant or where it was originally from. I was literally an ignoramus by all standards.
Jawa, By the Rivers of Babylon, Here is Boney M, 1979 at the Sopot Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Fq18SWGwQ u/d to include introduction. And here is 1978, I am not sure if that is Moscow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta42xU2UXLA Liz Mitchell is lead singer, with her strong Jamaican accent being part of the impact. KF
PS: The Psalm, KJV of course. There are so many layers in the performances that it is hard to count:
Somewhat related: The Earth and the Moon to scale is vastly different than how many of us picture it. I’ve seen this several times and I’m always surprised.
DS, a reminder of scale, and that continues down to the sparseness of the atom. KF
Of related note:
Particularly this:
https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/galileo-doesnt-deserve-to-be-the-victim-of-zombie-history/#comment-702525
Also a reminder of how risky the moon landings were, with 1960’s technology no less.
SpaceX will be sending two astronauts into orbit Wednesday. That is, if Elon Musk doesn’t have another twitter meltdown before then and shut it all down.
DS, a front of the cold war: civilisational leadership; the answer to the Sputnik shock. Hence significance of the Apollo 8 reading from Genesis as they orbited the moon at Christmas, 1968. KF
It’s quite remarkable to see the situation we and the Ruskies find ourselves in today. Perhaps not what we expected 50 years ago.
Frombork:
The town where Copernicus resided and did some astronomical observations.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frombork
KF @4:
Thank you for the comment and the links.
Yes, the strong Jamaican accent was a hit behind the iron curtain. But generally the colorful musical show those singers were able to put together was quite an entertainment for Eastern Europeans used to more… can’t think of a word… presentations?
Wasn’t one of those singers from Monserrat?
Jawa, that i simply didn’t know but just checked the MNI side: Maizie Williams is from the South here. The late Bobby Farrell is from Aruba but has a Montserrat name [cf. current Premier], which fits with known migration patterns. Knowing how closely families here are interconnected, it would not surprise me to see the Montserrat network as a background influence in creating the group. Barrett is a typical Jamaican name, and Wikipedia confirms that for Marcia. Liz Mitchell is obviously Jamaican.. There is a rich Montserrat music tradition and there are connexions to core pop culture including Air Studios. Jamaica’s music traditions need no discussion. The music speaks for itself, and the group would have made an impact at the time Caribbean talent was hitting the world stage. KF
While reflecting on the actual scale of the solar system, that makes the following finding all the more remarkable.
Even the tiny ‘marble size’ of the earth is found to be essential for life on Earth:
As well, the universe has to be the immense size that it is or, again, no life would be possible,
Here is a more comprehensive list of the many parameters that must be met in order for various types of life to be possible on Earth:
As Eric Metaxas noted in the most down-loaded article from the Wall Street Journal at that time,
And as Eric Metaxas also noted in his book ‘MIracles’
Verse:
Much as I love Star Trek and Star Wars, few, if any, sci-fi movies and TV shows capture a sense of the scale of space. They make it seem far too small and cozy. In fact, the only one that made that impression on me at a visceral level was 2001: A Space Odyssey in the section on the Discovery mission to Jupiter. For some reason, I could almost feel what it would be like to be where there was almost nothing above, below or around you for billions of miles. Just a cold, dark, airless void on an unfathomable scale, swept by invisible, deadly radiation and filled with millions of stars, the closest of which is so far away that we ourselves cannot reach it within a human lifetime given current technology. The size of our galaxy beyond, let alone the billions of others stretching out to the cosmic horizon, is simply unimaginable. If all of that was really just made for us, it does seem somewhat extravagant.
as to: “If all of that was really just made for us, it does seem somewhat extravagant.”
And yet, your subjective theological musings about what God should or shouldn’t do aside, that is exactly what the scientific evidence says happened.,,, See links in posts 8 and 15.
Sev, God is lord of Hosts. It’s his style. KF
As Dr John Lennox has said, we don’t worship any gods of the gaps, but the God of the whole show. The first verse of the first chapter of the first book of the OT and the first few verses of the first chapter of the fourth book of the NT state it clearly that God made the whole enchilada and the whole nine yards. Literally everything. And He did it His way. We weren’t around to be consulted. 🙂