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. The system was started by Nils Brenning and Gösta Gahm[1] and is on the scale of 1:20 million.[2]

Swift-Tuttle
Halley
Earth, Eros, Saltis, Mars,
Sun, Mercury, Venus
Saturn, 5025 PL
    Jupiter
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto and Charon
Ixion
Eris
Sedna
Termination Shock
The Sweden Solar System

The system
The Ericsson Globe, representing the Sun in the Sweden Solar System

The bodies represented in this model include the Sun, the planets (and some of their moons), 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 Sun is represented by the Ericsson Globe (Globen), 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.

Inner planets
  • Mercury (25 cm in diameter) is placed at Stockholm City Museum, 2,900 m from the Globe. The small metallic sphere was built by the artist Peter Varhelyi.
  • Venus (62 cm in diameter) is placed at Vetenskapens Hus at KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), 5,500 m from the Globe. The previous model, made by the United States artist Daniel Oberti, was inaugurated on 8 June 2004, during a Venus transit and placed at KTH. It fell and shattered around 11 June 2011. Due to construction work at the location of the previous model of Venus it was removed and as of October 2012 cannot be seen. The current model now at Vetenskapens Hus was previously located at the Observatory Museum in Stockholm (now closed).
  • Earth (65 cm in diameter) is located at the Swedish Museum of Natural History (Cosmonova), 7,600 m from the Globe. Satellite images of the Earth are exhibited beside the Globe. An elaborate model of the Moon (18 cm in diameter) is on display in another part of the museum.
  • Mars (35 cm in diameter) is located at Mörby Centrum, a shopping centre in Danderyd, a suburb of Stockholm. It is 11.6 km from the Globe. The model, made in copper by the Finnish artist Heikki Haapanen, is connected by an "umbilical cord" to a steel plate on the floor having an Earth image.[3] The globe also features marks that represent some typical Martian chemical elements.

Gas giants
  • Jupiter (7.3 m in diameter) 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. There are plans to build a 3D model.
  • Saturn (6.1 m in diameter) is placed outside the old observatory of Anders Celsius, in the so-called Celsius Square, in the centre of Uppsala, 73 km from the Globe. Inaugurated during the International Year of Astronomy,[4] the model is a mat with a picture of Saturn, but will eventually grow to crown a school planetarium in the city. In addition, several schools in Uppsala are to provide moons of Saturn: the first completed was Enceladus (diameter 2.5 cm) at Kvarngärdesskolan.[5]
  • Uranus (2.6 m in diameter) was vandalized and the new model was reconstructed behind Stora magasinet in Lövstabruk in 2012. It is an outdoor model made of blue steel bars. The rotation axis of the planet is marked in red.[6]
  • Neptune (2.5 m in diameter) is located by the river Söderhamnsån in Söderhamn, a coast town with tradition of fishing and sailing (which relates to Neptune being the deity of the seas). Placed 229 km from the Globe, the model is made of acrylic and, at night, shines with a blue light.

Trans-Neptunian objects
2.5-m representation of Neptune, by the river Söderhamnsån in Söderhamn
  • Pluto (12 cm in diameter) and its largest moon Charon are placed near the southern of the Dellen lakes, in Delsbo, 300 km from the Globe. The lakes are thought to be formed by a meteorite impact 90 million years ago. The two bodies' sculptures are supported by two gravelike pillars (as Pluto is the deity for death), made up with dellenite, a rare mineral formed at that place by the meteorite impact.
  • Ixion (6.5 cm in diameter), a dwarf planet candidate, is located at Technichus, a science center in Härnösand, 360 km from the Globe. The sculpture is an orb held by a hand with the arm. This plutino was discovered by a team which included scientists from Uppsala.
  • Eris (13 cm in diameter) is located at Umestans Företagspark, Umeå, 510 km from the Globe. Made by Theresa Berg, the golden model is inspired by the mythical story of Eris sparking a quarrel between three Greek goddesses with a golden apple bearing the inscription καλλίστῃ ("to the most beautiful one").
  • Sedna (10 cm in diameter), another dwarf planet candidate, is located at Teknikens Hus, a science center in Luleå, 912 km from the Globe.

Other bodies
The dwarf planet Sedna
  • The near-Earth Object Eros is located at Mörbyskolan, a school in Danderyd Municipality (where Mars is located), 11 km from the Globe. It was created as a Valentine's Day project in gold, modeled after Eros, the god of love. The dimensions are 2 × 0.7 × 0.7 mm (0.98 mm³).
  • The asteroid 36614 Saltis is located at Saltsjöbaden's Kunskapsskola, a school near the Stockholm Observatory. The asteroid was discovered by A. Brandeker in 2000, using a telescope at the observatory, and the body was named after the observatory's location, Saltsjöbaden.
  • The asteroid Vesta is located at Åva gymnasium, a public secondary school in Täby.
  • The asteroid Palomar-Leiden (0.2 mm in diameter) is located in a park in Alsike, Knivsta Municipality, 60 km from the Globe. It is not a sculpture but a dot on a map of the System, placed in front of Erik Ståhl's monumental cosmic sculptures.
  • Halley's Comet is located at Balthazar Science Center, in Skövde. Inaugurated on 16 December 2009, there are actually four models of the comet: three placed outdoors, based on schoolchildren's drawings, plus one indoors, consisting of a laser passing through a block of glass.
  • Comet Swift-Tuttle is placed at Kreativum, a science center in Karlshamn. The comet's orbit is closest to the Globe in inner Stockholm and farthest in Karlshamn, 390 km away.
  • The Termination 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 termination shock, but a foundation for a future sculpture exists at the Institute of Space Physics, 950 km from the Globe, in Kiruna, above the Arctic Circle.

List of objects
Object Distance from Globen[7] Diameter[7] Location[7] Coordinates Inauguration date
Sun0 km71 m (233 ft), the disk
110 m (361 ft), incl. the corona		The Ericsson Globe in Stockholm59°17′36.80″N 18°04′59.65″E-
Mercury2.9 km (1.8 mi)25 cm (9.8 in)Stockholm City Museum in Stockholm59°19′11″N 18°04′16″E1998
Venus5.5 km (3.4 mi)62 cm (24.4 in)Vetenskapens Hus59°21′10.38″N 18°03′30.78″E8 June 2004
Earth and Moon7.6 km (4.7 mi)65 cm (25.6 in) and 18 cm (7.1 in)Cosmonova Riksmuseet in Stockholm59°22′08.48″N 18°03′12.34″Ebefore 2000[8]
(433) Eros11 km (6.8 mi)2.0 mm × 0.7 mm × 0.7 mmMörbyskolan, a school in Danderyd59°23′38″N 18°02′41″E
(36614) Saltis11 km (6.8 mi)< 1 mmKunskapsskolan, a school in Saltsjöbaden59°16′21″N 18°18′17″E14 January 2010[9]
Mars11.6 km (7.2 mi)35 cm (13.8 in)Mörby Centrum in Danderyd59°23′52.58″N 18°02′11.58″Ebefore 2000[8]
4 Vesta16.4 km (10.2 mi)2.6 cmÅva gymnasium in Täby59°26′24″N 18°03′47.16″E6 September 2017[10]
Jupiter40 km (25 mi)7.3 m (24 ft)Arlanda airport in Märsta59°38′58.52″N 17°55′50.38″Ebefore 2000[8]
(5025) Palomar-Leiden60 km (37 mi)0.2 mmin Alsike59°45′25″N 17°45′57″E
Saturn73 km (45 mi)6.1 m (20 ft)Celsius square in Uppsala59°51′34″N 17°38′14″E13 June 2009[4]
Uranus125 km (77 mi)2.6 m (8.5 ft)Stora magasinet in Lövstabruk60°24′31″N 17°52′37″E13 October 2012[11]
1P/Halley comet204 km (127 mi)Balthazar Science Center in Skövde58°23′14″N 13°51′11″E16 December 2009[12]
Neptune229 km (142 mi)2.5 m (8.2 ft)by the river Söderhamnsån in Söderhamn61°18′07″N 17°03′19″E29 October 1998[13]
Pluto and Charon300 km (186 mi)12 cm (4.7 in) and 6 cm (2.4 in)by the lake Dellen South, in Delsbo61°47′50.13″N 16°32′59.96″Ebefore 2000[8]
(28978) Ixion360 km (224 mi)6.5 cm (2.6 in)Technichus, a science center in Härnösand62°37′49″N 17°56′12″E18 April 2002[14]
109P/Swift-Tuttle comet390 km (242 mi)Kreativum, a science center in Karlshamn56°11′39″N 14°51′09″E
(136199) Eris510 km (317 mi)13 cm (5.1 in)Företagspark in Umeå63°50′05″N 20°15′37″E6 December 2007[15]
(90377) Sedna810 km (503 mi)10 cm (3.9 in)Teknikens Hus, a science center in Luleå65°36′59.50″N 22°08′06.00″E8 December 2005[16]
Termination shock950 km (590 mi)A plateInstitute of Space Physics in Kiruna67°50′27″N 20°24′34.5″E
  • The Ericsson Globe represents the Sun. The rest of the Solar System is scattered in, and north of, Stockholm.
  • Mercury in Stockholm
  • Venus in Stockholm
  • Earth in Stockholm
  • Mars in Stockholm
  • Neptune in Söderhamn
  • Asteroid Vesta in Täby
  • Sedna in Luleå
  • The foundation for the sculpture of the Termination Shock in front of the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Kiruna.

See also

References
  1. "Sweden Solar System: Bakgrund" (in Swedish). Sweden Solar System. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  2. "Sweden Solar System: English summary". Sweden Solar System. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  3. Danderyds Kommun: Mars
  4. Press release, linked 2009-06-08.
  5. List of moons of Saturn assigned to schools in Uppsala (in Swedish).
  6. http://www.arbetarbladet.se/uppland/tierp/uranus-landade-i-lovsta
  7. "Sweden Solar System: Stationer" (in Swedish). Sweden Solar System. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  8. "Tours of Model Solar Systems". Psych.illinois.edu. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  9. Ny Teknik: Saltis invigs i Saltis Archived 23 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  10. http://www2.taby.se/ava
  11. http://www.unt.se/uppland/tierp/uranus-invigdes-i-lovstabruk-1904483.aspx
  12. "Sweden Solar System: Halleys komet". Ttt.astro.su.se. 16 December 2009. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  13. Neptunus i Söderhamn
  14. "Technichus' Exhibitions". Technichus home Page. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  15. Umeå kommun: Umeå får en egen himlakropp Archived 29 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  16. "Luleå är Sedna. I alla fall om vår sol motsvaras av Globen i Stockholm". Norrbotten Kuriren (in swedish). Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
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