The Sweden
Solar System
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. It was started by Nils Brenning and Gösta Gahm. It is in the scale of 1:20 million.
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 Globe Arena in Stockholm, which represents the Sun, is the largest spherical building in the world.
A number of minor planets and comets also populate The Solar System, which now extends from the very south to the very north of Sweden. There is a host institution for each model. The Sweden Solar System is a pedagogical instrument and conveys a direct feeling of the enormous distances in space, and how small the planets are compared to the Sun. Art, mythology and science merge in this project, and The Solar System connects many different places and different type of activities around Sweden.
Inner Planets
- Mercury is placed at Stockholm City Museum, 2,900 m from the Globe. The small metallic sphere was built by the artist Peter Varhelyi.
- Venus is placed at KTH, 5,500 m from the Globe. The model, made by the United States artist Daniel Oberti, was inaugurated June 8, 2004, during a Venus transit.
- Earth is located at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, 7,600 m from the Globe. An elaborate model of the Moon (18 cm in diameter) is on display in another part of the museum.
- Mars is located at Mörby Centrum, a shopping centre in Danderyd, a suburb of Stockholm. It is 11.6 km from the Globe.
Outer planets
- Jupiter 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.
- Saturn is placed outside the old observatory of Anders Celsius, in the so-called Celsius Square, at centre of Uppsala, 73 km from the Globe.
- Uranus was vandalized and the new model is planned for somewhere in Gövle, 143 km from the Globe.
- Neptune is located by the river Söderhamnsån in Söderhamn, a coast town with tradition of fishing and sailing. Placed 229 km from the Globe, the model is made of acrylic and, at night, shines with a blue light.
The Sun
The Sun is represented by the Ericsson Globe, 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.
List of Objects
| Object | Distance | Diameter | Location | Coordinates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | 0 km | 71 m (the disk) 110 m (incl. the corona) |
The Ericsson Globe in Stockholm | 59°17'36.80"N 18°04'59.65"E |
| Mercury | 2.9 km | 25 cm | Stockholm City Museum in Stockholm | 59°19'11"N 18°04'14"E |
| Venus | 5.5 km | 62 cm | Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Observatoriemuseet in Stockholm | 59°20'51"N 18°04'21.4"E |
| Earth and Moon | 7.6 km | 65 cm and 18 cm | Cosmonova Riksmuseet in Stockholm | 59°22'08.48"N 18°03'12.34"E |
| Mars | 11.6 km | 35 cm | Mörby Centrum in Danderyd | 59°23'52.58"N 18°02'11.58"E |
| Jupiter | 40 km | 7.3 m | Arlanda airport in Märsta | 59°38'58.52"N 17°55'50.38"E |
| Saturn | 73 km | 6.1 m | Celsius square in Uppsala | 59°51'34"N 17°38'14"E |
| Uranus | 146 km | 2.6 m | Furuviks Park in Gävle | 59°22'08.48"N 18°03'12.34"E |
| Neptune | 229 km | 2.5 m | by the river Söderhamnsån in Söderhamn | 61°18'07"N 17°03'19"E |
Dwarf Planets
Pluto and its moon Charon are placed near the southern of the Dellen lakes. Ixion, a dwarf planet candidate, is located at Technichus, a science center in Härnösand, 360 km from the Globe. Eris is located at Umestans Företagspark, 510 km from the Globe. Sedna, another dwarf planet candidate, is located at Teknikens Hus, 912 km from the Globe.
Other Bodies
The near-Earth Object Eros is located at Mörbyskolan, a school in Danderyd Municipality. The asteroid Saltis is located at Saltsjöbaden's Kunskapsskola, a school near the Stockholm Observatory. The asteroid Palomar-Leiden is located in a park in Alsike. Halley's Comet is located at Balthazar Science Center. Comet Swift-Tuttle is placed at Kreativum, a science center in Karlshamn. The Terminal 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 terminal shock, but a foundation for a future sculpture exists at the Institute of Space Physics.