Akaa Solar System Scale Model is located at the center of the city of

Akaa Akaa () is a town and a municipality in Pirkanmaa, Finland. It was created on 1 January 2007, when the town of Toijala and the town of Viiala were united into a single municipality. The municipality of Kylmäkoski was consolidated with Akaa o ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The Sun is located at the school campus of Toijalan Yhteiskoulu in Toijala district. The scale of the model is 1 : 3 000 000 000, meaning that each centimetre in the

scale model A scale model is a physical model that is geometrically similar to an object (known as the ''prototype''). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small protot ...

represents 30 000 km in real life. The Sun is 464 mm in diameter and the Earth is 4 mm in diameter and located 49.86 meters away from the Sun.

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

is 1500 meters away from the Sun, for example. Akaa Solar System Scale Model was built in 2017 by

amateur astronomer Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers m ...

Kari-Pekka Arola. A walking tour of Akaa Solar System Scale Model starts from the Sun and all the planets are located northbound from the Sun. The walking route goes through the center of

Toijala Toijala is a former town and municipality of Finland, located some south of Tampere. On 1 January 2007, it was consolidated with Viiala to form the town of Akaa. Toijala is known as an important railway crossroads. The Helsinki–Tampere and ...

and towards the port of Toijala, where the furthest dwarf planet in the scale model, Eris is located. All the planets and most notable dwarf planets are included in the scale model. The current location (140 AU) of the ''

Voyager 1 ''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar medium, interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. It was launched 16 days afte ...

'' spacecraft in relation to the Solar System is also presented in the scale model (as the most distant man-made spacecraft) and the concrete pillar representing its location is at the center of the neighbouring town Viiala, approximately 7 km away from the Sun. The speed of light in the scale model is exactly 10 cm/second, so walking the 50-meter distance from the Earth to Sun "at light speed" takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds.

Scale model of Proxima Centauri in Australia

In 2018 scale model of the star

Proxima Centauri Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to Earth after the Sun, located 4.25 light-years away in the southern constellation of Centaurus. This object was discovered in 1915 by Robert T. A. Innes, Robert Innes. It is a small, low-mass st ...

was added to Akaa Solar System Scale Model. Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star and the nearest star to the Solar System. It is located 4.24 light-years away. Within the model's scale, it has a diameter of about 72 mm and is located 13 370 km away from Akaa. This ground distance takes it in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and near the famous Uluru / Ayers Rock. The scale model of Proxima Centauri is placed at the nearby town of

Yulara Yulara is a town in the southern region of the Northern Territory, Australia. It is an unincorporated enclave within the MacDonnell Region. At the , Yulara had a permanent population of 1,099, in an area of . It is by road from the World Heri ...

in the Town Square visitor centre. This addition of Proxima Centauri demonstrates the differences of planetary distances vs. the stellar distances in the universe. Akaasolchart

A map and info of the walking tour is available at the website of the city of Akaa. Free info app "Akaa Solar System Scale Model" is also available at Google Play Store. Saturnus ja Proxima Centauri

References

External links

ABC Alice Springs ''Mornings'' Radio Show about the scale modelABC Alice Springs: Solar system scale model extends from Finland to Yulara in the NTAkaan Seutu: Akaan aurinkokunnan pienoismalli sai naapuritähden AustraliaanAkaaseen oma aurinkokunta (City of Akaa)

Radio Sun: Toijalan keskustaan Aurinkokunnan pienoismalli

Sydän-Hämeen Lehti: Aurinkokunnan pienoismalli päätyi Akaaseen

Akaan Seutu: Akaa sai oman Aurinkokunnan

Valkeakosken Sanomat: Aurinkokunnan pienoismalli mahtuu Toijalan ytimeen

Sydän-Hämeen Lehti: Aurinkokunnan pienoismalli saa naapuritähden Australiaan

Google Maps

Android application at Google Play Store
{{Solar System models Sculptures in Finland Solar System models Buildings and structures in Pirkanmaa 2017 sculptures

Scale model of Proxima Centauri in Australia

See also

References

External links