A solar system model needs a scale statement

A display may preserve relative sizes while compressing orbital distances. Ask viewers to find the scale note before interpreting the arrangement, making the model's useful relationships and deliberate simplifications visible together.

A display may scale diameters while compressing orbital distances.

Which quantities use the stated scale?

Ask viewers to identify the model's scale statement before interpreting it. A model can communicate one relationship accurately while simplifying another.

Read each scale note. Compare represented features. Add a limitation caption.

Attractive models can mix scales.

Which quantities share a scale? Highlight the relevant caption.

Resources

• Solar System Planet Order — Use the sequence cards and add a note that spacing is not a distance scale.

Further reading

• NASA Science — Solar System exploration

Read next

• The Sun and Earth belong to different kinds of object
• Design a fictional Moon base and label the assumptions
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