3D Solar System

Understanding where everything is in the Solar System can be difficult when you view it on a flat sheet piece of paper. It may be easier to put everything in perspective by viewing a 3D Solar System. There are a number of online resources that you can use to find one or you can make your own. Below are links to several reliable sites where you can find a 3D Solar System presented in different ways as well as the instructions to build your own 3D model at home.

NASA is the premier resource for everything related to the Solar System. Try this simulator to look around our system. You can choose where you want to look from. It can be any celestial body or spacecraft and you can view in different directions.

Try 3D Solar System.com for a a screen saver that isn’t just a screen saver. You are able to explore the Solar System with this tool.

This link takes you to an interesting flash application showing the Solar System.

Here is a link to an article about how to build a Solar System mobile. This is a great tool to pique your child’s interest in astronomy early on. This is another mobile, but it glows in the dark.

Supplies

Two 12 cm styrofoam rings
Several styrofoam balls of varying diameter. One each of 2.5, 5, 6.4, 7.6, 10, and 15 cm. Two each 3.75 cm and one 3 cm ball.
A styrofoam tray that is 30.5 cm x 91 cm
Acrylic paints that are yellow, black, orange, light blue, dark blue, green, bright red, bright green, terra cotta, coral, and dark green. These are general colors. You are welcome to paint the styrofoam any color of your choice.
Two wooden dowel rods that are 91 cm x .03 cm
Paint brush
Toothpicks
Ruler
Scissors
Glue

Step 1

Cut the dowel rods into the following lengths: 6, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, and 30 cm. Paint each of them black and let them dry while you move on. Paint one of the styrofoam rings black. It will be the base for the sun to sit on. Paint the 15 cm ball yellow. It is the Sun. When it and the black ring are dry, glue them together.

Step 2

It is time to paint each of the planets. The 2.5 cm ball will be orange for Mercury. The 3.75 ball will be deep blue for Venus. The other 3.75 ball will be bright blue for Earth. A 3 cm ball will be bright red for Mars. Paint the 10 cm ball orange for Jupiter. Saturn is the 7.6 cm ball and will be green and coral. Paint the other styrofoam ring coral and glue it to the Saturn ball. Uranus will be a 6 cm ball painted terra cotta with green splotches on it. Neptuen will be a 5 cm ball that is green with terra cotta splotches on it.

Step 3

After the planets all dry, you need to attach the right length dowel to each. One end glued to the Sun and the other to its planet. Mercury will be 6 cm, Venus will be at 10, Earth at 12, Mars will be on the end of a 15 cm dowel. Next comes Jupiter at 18 cm, Saturn and its rings at 20 cm, Uranus at 25 cm, and Neptune at 30 cm.

Building a 3D Solar System is a n easy project that will help you educate your children. If they are too advanced, then anyone of the links above can help to refresh their view of our group of planets.

We’ve got a few more Solar System resources here on Universe Today. This page helps you build a scale model of the Solar System. And here’s how to build a Solar System mobile.

We have recorded a whole series of podcasts about the Solar System at Astronomy Cast. Check them out here.