The Scale of the Solar System

Science

The solar system is almost entirely empty space. Distances between planets are so enormous that even our fastest spacecraft take years to reach them. Explore just how vast our cosmic neighbourhood really is.

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10
Questions
5–10 min
Time
Q1 Question 1 of 10

In a scale model where the Sun is the size of a basketball (about 24 cm across), how far away would Earth be?

Q2 Question 2 of 10

Using the basketball-Sun scale model, approximately how far away would the nearest star (Proxima Centauri) be?

Q3 Question 3 of 10

How long does it take light to travel from Earth to Mars at the closest approach between the two planets?

Q4 Question 4 of 10

Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 and is now over 23 billion km from Earth. About how long does a radio signal take to travel from Voyager 1 to Earth?

Q5 Question 5 of 10

What is the Oort Cloud, and approximately how far does it extend from the Sun?

Q6 Question 6 of 10

What fraction of the solar system (by volume) is actually filled with planets, moons, and other solid objects?

Q7 Question 7 of 10

The New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto in 2015 after a journey of about 9 years. Pluto was about 32 AU from Earth at that time. How fast was New Horizons traveling?

Q8 Question 8 of 10

Light from the Sun takes about 8 minutes to reach Earth. Approximately how long does it take to reach Neptune?

Q9 Question 9 of 10

When the Voyager probes were launched in 1977, they used a rare alignment of the outer planets to complete a grand tour. What technique let them speed up as they passed each planet?

Q10 Question 10 of 10

Which of the following best explains why we have not yet sent astronauts beyond the Moon, even though we have robotic probes visiting all the outer planets?