orreries are generally not to scale. Is there anywhere an actual scale model of the solar system in motion?
111354
Here is the largest scale model of the Solar System, complete with driving directions between the sun and planets.\n\nhttp://www.bradley.edu/las/phy/astronomy/Scale_Model.html
669912
An asteroid is a small, solid object in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun. An asteroid is an example of a minor planet (or planetoid). These minor planets are much less massive than even small planets such as Mercury or Mars. It is believed that most asteroids are remnants of the protoplanetary disc. The incorporation of these remnants into the planets during the formation of the Solar System was prevented by large gravitational perturbations induced by Jupiter. Some asteroids have moons. The vast majority of the asteroids are within the main asteroid belt, with elliptical orbits between those of Mars and Jupiter.
494425
You can buy kits at places like Hobby Lobby, but you can do way better on your own. I used the information in the links below to make a scale model where I used a basket ball for the Sun and various pin heads and acorns for the planets. The first link below is an on line calculator that will tell you how big to make the planets and how far apart to place them if you just enter the size you want to make the Sun. I bet you are surprised at how small and far apart the planets really are!
421484
This website may help, not only does it have a picture, but it has step by step:)\nhttp://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/astronomy/solarsystemmodel/\nI would use the foam balls instead of the tag paper. If you need to make it to scale this website might also help:\nhttp://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/index.html
877159
I have been doing a presentation on Pluto is not a planet.\n\nI put up a bulletin board with the pictures of the planets with special pages showing Ceres, Pluto, and Eris.
71764
There is a perpetual motion machine in the Smithsonian Institute. I creates more energy than it uses. The key is to reduce friction to a level that keeps the spinning weights spinning while producing more energy. the one in the Smithsonian Institute does this but not on a scale that would be of use in todays world of high energy consumption.
299350
No we still have a lot to learn about our solar system, especially the outer planets.  This is in part because they are fairly far away and it takes a while, and a good deal of funding to get out there.  In the case of the gasious Jovian planets this is also because we cant see beneath the very tops of their clouds.  There are strange things that appear to be going on in their interiors but it's hard to get data on this when the pressures would easily crush any spacecraft soon into its decent.
779719
Try NASA's site:\nhttp://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/index.html\n\nor Wikipedia links from:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planets
1092534
""An asteroid possibly as large as a half-mile or more in diameter is rapidly approaching the Earth.  There is no need for concern, for no collision is in the offing, but the space rock will make an exceptionally close approach to our planet early on Monday, July 3, passing just beyond the Moon’s average distance from Earth.  \n\nAstronomers will attempt to get a more accurate assessment of the asteroid’s size by “pinging” it with radar.  \n\nAnd skywatchers with good telescopes and some experience just might be able to get a glimpse of this cosmic rock as it streaks rapidly past our planet in the wee hours Monday. The closest approach occurs late Sunday for U.S. West Coast skywatchers.\n\nThe asteroid, designated 2004 XP14, was discovered on Dec. 10, 2004 by the Lincoln Laboratory Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR), a continuing camera survey to keep watch for asteroids that may pass uncomfortably close to Earth.  \n\nAlthough initially there were concerns that this asteroid might possibly impact Earth later this century and thus merit special monitoring, further analysis of its orbit has since ruled out any such collision, at least in the foreseeable future.\n............................\nThe size of 2004 XP 14 is not precisely known. But based on its brightness, the diameter is believed to be somewhere in the range of 1,345 to 3,018-feet  (410 to 920 meters). That's between a quarter mile and just over a half-mile wide. ""\n\nI don't think that will happen anything even if it collides with the moon.
656930
Newtons Cradle is as simple and elegant as it gets.\n\nhttp://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/scenario/cradle.htm
626546
The simplest reasonable model of the atom is the Bohr model, which does tend to look like a mini solar system. In actuality, atomic structure is not so easy to define. The further you advance in chemistry, the more complex the models become, and the less they look like "mini solar systems". But they are still only reasonable attempts to visualize a very complex system, and cannot physically confine all the expected paths of the electrons' orbits.
1120480
I had visualized that for small moons, somehow it seemed odd for larger moons. Space Elevators was also a pretty good option in my mind. Cost seems to be a non-issue if you can get those robot armies to work. Big if, but hey, IF, then its really just a matter of getting the bots there and getting them started.\n\n    * Mining asteroids is a royal pain in the tail. If at all possible, mining will be done where there's gravity and an atmosphere. Planets are great big balls of metals and useful minerals, so I just don't see the advantage. The only exception is that you might break off a tiny chunk of an icy body and tow it to an established colony on the moon, to give you carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. It might be cheaper just to haul up refined chemicals from a colony elsewhere and ship them, though.\n\nYes, mining in microgravity would be highly problematic. There are a number of different groups working on the theories of the problem, and a lot of interesting answers out there. If we are going to make large Colonies or ships, materials will proove to be cheaper to mine from Asteroids than lift from Earth or the Moon.
905767
You are making it needlessly hard on yourself.  The planet has the same mass as the earth, and someone on it weight the same as on earth, therefore the surface of the planet is the same distance from its center as the earth radius, i.e. this planet has the same dimension as earth.\nSo, the radius of the planet is 6,372.797 km, same as earth's.\nYou don't need to compute anything.  The orbital velocity of the planet has nothing to do with it.\nIf the weight was different, you only need to scale it remembering that the weight would vary as an inverse of the square of the radius.
410115
Yes there is, however it is very weak.  only able to move small objects.  It isn't like the movies.
406851
In our Solar System?  Unlikely.  There are a bunch of things orbiting beyond Pluto that are bigger than it that could be considered planets if size were everything... although Pluto is just a large Comet that orbits on the inside of the Oort cloud.  \n\nIf there was anything beyond Neptune of any consequential size, chances are we would have detected it by now.
110589
Surprisingly, there is no total agreement about the size of our Solar System. Some say it's defined by the orbit of the outermost planet (used to be Pluto), while others say it's where the Sun's heliosphere ends. Then there's the definition that I personally favor -- the Oort Cloud of comets.\n\nHere's a breakdown of the three major sizes favored:\nPluto orbit - 5,900^6 km\nHeliosphere - 2.2^10 km \nOort Cloud  - 1.5^13 km (1.6 light years)
735634
Scientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered and directly imaged a small brown dwarf star, 50 times the mass of Jupiter, orbiting with a planet around a Sun-like star. Such an arrangement has never before been seen but might be common, the scientists say, leading to solar systems with distorted planetary orbits.\n\nKevin Luhman of Penn State University is the lead author on a report describing this discovery, which will be published in The Astrophysical Journal. The discovery concerns a class of the coldest brown dwarfs, called T dwarfs.\n\n\nThe detailed research paper on T dwarf - Ref\nhttp://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Luhman9-2006-2.htm