Everyone has probably seen a representation of our solar system with an array of planets, including Earth. But what very few people know is that the proportions in many representations are nowhere near the opposite of reality.
James O’Donoghue, a former NASA employee, draws attention to this fact with a self-animated video. To do this, he uses the exact sizes of the planets and the sun, according to NASA. In addition, O’Donoghue’s animation also shows the speed of rotation of all celestial bodies. In his video, it soon becomes clear how small the Earth is. Once the sun fades, all the planets look like minor planets. If the sun were to fill the entire picture, the Earth would only look like a pinhead. Mercury, Mars and the Moon are almost invisible.
Jupiter is thirty times larger than Mercury
The reason why the planets do not appear in the correct proportions is simple: if Jupiter, Mercury, and other celestial bodies are displayed correctly, the viewer will lose all details on the smaller planets. Because the diameter of Jupiter is about thirty times larger than the diameter of Mercury. So in many representations it appears as if Mercury is only ten times smaller.
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