Sweden Solar System
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
The Sweden Solar System is the world's largest permanent scale model of the Solar System. The Sun is represented by the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, the largest hemispherical building in the world. The inner planets can also be found in Stockholm but the outer planets are situated northward in other cities along the Baltic Sea. The system was started by Nils Brenning and Gösta Gahm[1] and is on the scale of 1:20 million.[2]
Contents
The system
The bodies represented in this model include the Sun, the planets (and some of their satellites), dwarf planets and many types of small bodies (comets, asteroids, trans-Neptunians, etc.), as well as some abstract concepts (like the Termination Shock zone). Because of the existence of many small bodies in the real Solar System, the model can always be further increased.
The Sun is represented by the Ericsson Globe (Globen), Stockholm, which is the largest hemispherical building in the world, 110 m in diameter. To respect the scale, the globe represents the Sun including its corona.
Inner planets
- Mercury (25 cm in diameter) is placed at Stockholm City Museum, 2,900 m from the Globe. The small metallic sphere was built by the artist Peter Varhelyi.
- Venus (62 cm in diameter) is placed at Vetenskapens Hus at KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), 5,500 m from the Globe. The previous model, made by the United States artist Daniel Oberti, was inaugurated June 8, 2004, during a Venus transit and placed at KTH. It fell and shattered around June 11, 2011. Due to construction work at the location of the previous model of Venus it was removed and as of October 2012 cannot be seen. The current model now at Vetenskapens Hus was previously located at the Observatory Museum in Stockholm (now closed).
- Earth (65 cm in diameter) is located at the Swedish Museum of Natural History (Cosmonova), 7,600 m from the Globe. Satellite images of the Earth are exhibited beside the Globe. An elaborate model of the Moon (18 cm in diameter) is on display in another part of the museum.
- Mars (35 cm in diameter) is located at Mörby Centrum, a shopping centre in Danderyd, a suburb of Stockholm. It is 11.6 km from the Globe. The model, made in copper by the Finnish artist Heikki Haapanen, is connected by an "umbilical cord" to a steel plate on the floor having an Earth image.[3] The globe also features marks that represent some typical Martian chemical elements.
Outer planets
- Jupiter (7.3 m in diameter) is placed at the roundabout near Sky City, in Stockholm Arlanda Airport in Sigtuna Municipality, 40 km from the Globe. It is made as a flower decoration, with different flowers representing different zones of the giant gas planet. There are plans to build a 3D model.
- Saturn (6.1 m in diameter) is placed outside the old observatory of Anders Celsius, in the so-called Celsius Square, at centre of Uppsala, 73 km from the Globe. Inaugurated during the International Year of Astronomy,[4] the model is a mat with a picture of Saturn, but will eventually grow to crown a school planetarium at the city. In addition, several schools in Uppsala are to provide moons of Saturn: the first completed was Enceladus (diameter 2.5 cm) at Kvarngärdesskolan.[5]
- Uranus (2.6 m in diameter) was vandalized and the new model is planned for somewhere in Gävle, 143 km from the Globe.
- Neptune (2.5 m in diameter) is located by the river Söderhamnsån in Söderhamn, a coast town with tradition of fishing and sailing (which relates to Neptune as the deity of the seas). Placed 229 km from the Globe, the model is made of acrylic and, at night, shines with a blue light.
Dwarf planets
- Pluto (12 cm in diameter) and its moon Charon are placed near the southern of the Dellen lakes, in Delsbo, 300 km from the Globe. The lakes are thought to be formed by a meteorite impact 90 million years ago. The two bodies' sculptures are supported by two gravelike pillars (as Pluto is the deity for death), made up with dellenite, a rare mineral formed at that place by the meteorite impact.
- Ixion (6.5 cm in diameter), a dwarf planet candidate, is located at Technichus, a science center in Härnösand, 360 km from the Globe. The sculpture is an orb held by a hand with the arm. This plutino was discovered by a team which included scientists from Uppsala.
- Eris (13 cm in diameter) is located at Umestans Företagspark, Umeå, 510 km from the Globe. Made by Theresa Berg, the golden model tells the mythical story about how the goddess started a quarrel between other Greek deities, starting with an apple bearing the inscription καλλίστῃ ("to the most beautiful one").
- Sedna (10 cm in diameter), another dwarf planet candidate, is located at Teknikens Hus, a science center in Luleå, 912 km from the Globe.
Other bodies
- the near-Earth Object Eros is located at Mörbyskolan, a school in Danderyd Municipality (where Mars is located), 11 km from the Globe. It was created as a Valentine's Day project in gold, modeled after Eros, the god of love. The dimensions are 2 × 0.7 × 0.7 mm (0.98 mm³).
- the asteroid Saltis is located at Saltsjöbaden's Kunskapsskola, a school near the Stockholm Observatory. The asteroid was discovered by A. Brandeker in 2000, using a telescope at the observatory, and the body was named after the observatory's location, Saltsjöbaden.
- the asteroid Palomar-Leiden (0.2 mm in diameter) is located in a park in Alsike, Knivsta Municipality, 60 km from the Globe. It's not a sculpture but a dot on a map of the System, placed in front of Erik Ståhl's monumental cosmic sculptures.
- Halley's Comet is located at Balthazar Science Center, in Skövde. Inaugurated on December 16, 2009, there are actually four models of the comet: three placed outdoors, based on schoolchildren's drawings, plus one indoors, consisting of a laser passing through a block of glass.
- Comet Swift-Tuttle is placed at Kreativum, a science center in Karlshamn. The comet's orbit is closest to the Globe in inner Stockholm and farthest in Karlshamn, 390 km away.
- The Termination Shock is at the edge of the heliosphere, it is the boundary where the solar wind transitions to subsonic velocity. No sculpture currently represents the termination shock, but a foundation for a future sculpture exists at the Institute of Space Physics, 950 km from the Globe, in Kiruna, above the Arctic Circle.
List of objects
| Object | Distance[6] | Diameter[6] | Location[6] | Coordinates | Inauguration date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | 0 km | 71 m (233 ft) (the disk) 110 m (361 ft) (incl. the corona) |
The Ericsson Globe in Stockholm | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | - |
| Mercury | 2.9 km (1.8 mi) | 25 cm (9.8 in) | Stockholm City Museum in Stockholm | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | 1998 |
| Venus | 5.5 km (3.4 mi) | 62 cm (24.4 in) | Vetenskapens Hus | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | June 8, 2004 |
| Earth and Moon | 7.6 km (4.7 mi) | 65 cm (25.6 in) and 18 cm (7.1 in) | Cosmonova Riksmuseet in Stockholm | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | before 2000[7] |
| (433) Eros | 11 km (6.8 mi) | 2.0 mm x 0.7 mm x 0.7 mm | Mörbyskolan, a school in Danderyd | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| (36614) Saltis | 11 km (6.8 mi) | < 1 mm | Kunskapsskolan, a school in Saltsjöbaden | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | January 14, 2010[8] |
| Mars | 11.6 km (7.2 mi) | 35 cm (13.8 in) | Mörby Centrum in Danderyd | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | before 2000[7] |
| Jupiter | 40 km (25 mi) | 7.3 m (24 ft) | Arlanda airport in Märsta | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | before 2000[7] |
| (5025) Palomar-Leiden | 60 km (37 mi) | 0.2 mm | in Alsike | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| Saturn | 73 km (45 mi) | 6.1 m (20 ft) | Celsius square in Uppsala | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | June 13, 2009[4] |
| Uranus | 146 km (91 mi) | 2.6 m (8.5 ft) | Furuviks Park in Gävle | ||
| 1P/Halley comet | 204 km (127 mi) | Balthazar Science Center in Skövde | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | December 16, 2009[9] | |
| Neptune | 229 km (142 mi) | 2.5 m (8.2 ft) | by the river Söderhamnsån in Söderhamn | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | October 29, 1998[10] |
| Pluto and Charon | 300 km (186 mi) | 12 cm (4.7 in) and 6 cm (2.4 in) | by the lake Dellen South, in Delsbo | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | before 2000[7] |
| (28978) Ixion | 360 km (224 mi) | 6.5 cm (2.6 in) | Technichus, a science center in Härnösand | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | April 18, 2002[11] |
| 109P/Swift-Tuttle comet | 390 km (242 mi) | Kreativum, a science center in Karlshamn | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | ||
| (136199) Eris | 510 km (317 mi) | 13 cm (5.1 in) | Företagspark in Umeå | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | December 6, 2007[12] |
| (90377) Sedna | 810 km (503 mi) | 10 cm (3.9 in) | Teknikens Hus, a science center in Luleå | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | December 8, 2005[13] |
| Termination shock | 950 km (590 mi) | A plate | Institute of Space Physics in Kiruna | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
Gallery
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The Ericsson Globe represents the sun. The rest of the Solar System is scattered in, and north of, Stockholm.
-
Sweden Solar System Mercury.jpg
Mercury in Stockholm
-
Swedish Solar System Venus.jpg
Venus in Stockholm
-
Sweden Solar System Earth.jpg
Earth in Stockholm
-
Mars model of Sweden solar system.jpg
Mars in Stockholm
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Neptune model of Sweden solar system.jpg
Neptune in Söderhamn
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Sweden Solar System - Sedna 2.JPG
Sedna in Luleå
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Entrance to Swedish Institute of Space Physics.JPG
The foundation for the sculpture of the Termination Shock in front of the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Kiruna.
See also
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Danderyds Kommun: Mars
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Press release, linked 2009-06-08.
- ↑ List of moons of Saturn assigned to schools in Uppsala (in Swedish).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Ny Teknik: Saltis invigs i Saltis
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Neptunus i Söderhamn
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Umeå kommun: Umeå får en egen himlakropp
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
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