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Solar System Trail: Walks in Port Phillip
Solar System Trail: Walks in Port Phillip
SOLAR SYSTEM
TRAIL
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THE A NB Y EE
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REMEMBER M
c GR
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Every centimetre you walk is 10,000 kilometres.
AC
PA
ON
RK
SF
ST
IE
can
Every metre you walk (one and a half steps) is
LD
ter
PA
1,000,000 kilometres.
RA
bur
DE
y r
When you walk 5.9 kilometres from the Sun
d
(Marina Reserve) to Pluto (Port Melbourne),
you have travelled 5.9 billion kilometres.
7
ST
M AR Y
PIE R R D CATANI
y S
Walking
GARDENS
F i tz ro
Model Actual distance ST K
IL D A
Planets Actual diameters distance P IE R
size from the Sun AC LA ND JA CK
SO
from Sun
THE
St
RO B
2. Mercury 4,878 km 0.5 cm 60 million km 60 m
AN
AD
6
E
BLVD
C
3.Venus 12,102 km 1.2 cm 108 million km 108 m ST
E LL
AV
4. Earth 12,756 km 1.28 cm 150 million km 150 m
C
5 SH AKE SP EAR
E GRV
Earth’s moon 38 cm 4
from earth
3
MARIN
GLE
N H
UNT
L Y R
D
ELWOOD
OR
PARK
MO
OUTFALL
ND
PLATFORM
ES
PL
HE
AD
PO
WE
R S
T
THE SOLAR SYSTEM MODEL GRANT ST
S
Navigate the solar system from the sun to the outer planets by T
ST
S
LL
following the bike and walking trail on the City of Port Phillip’s a
WE
ST
foreshore. I
T
UR
ST
C O V E N T R Y ST a
In 2008 artists and scientists constructed a model of our solar
w
system to a scale of one to one billion between St Kilda and
DO R CAS S T
7
Port Melbourne. Instead of navigating 4.5 billion kilometres from
z
St K
b an k s t
the sun to Neptune, and 5.9 billion kilometres from the sun to
ILDA RD
M
KI
B
BOT OURNE
g
S
DO GAR ANIC
sun setting on the western horizon. Port Phillip Bay’s crescent
WA
MA DEN
IN S
Y
f
R A G L AN S T
RD
shape is perfect for a model where the ‘sun’ can be viewed from
every one of the nine model locations. S
START AT THE SUN O
m
The trail starts at the sun sculpture,
TO near the white lighthouse
OR
AK s
in Marina Reserve at the south end of RD
W E St Kilda Beach. From the
ST
sun follow the foreshore trail north to visit the eight planets, I
QU EE NS R D
St KILDA RD
accurately scaled to size and distance. You can walk to the first l
L
ak
ninety minutes. p
OUR ENVIRONMENT O
p
Seeing the Earth on a human scale shows its immense isolation S
and vulnerability. In the vastness of space it is imperative for us k
to care for this precious environment of our only home. o
l
PR IN
SAND IN SPACE
The beach is a clue to the immensity of the universe. Pick up
a handful of sand as you walk. It contains about 10,000 grains.
Imagine that each grain is one star like our sun. Reflect that there
are about ten times as many stars as grains of sand on all the
world’s beaches and deserts combined. There are an estimated
70,000 million million million stars (seven followed by twenty-two
zeros) in the observable universe.
Our sun is just one star of more than 300 billion stars in the
Milky Way galaxy. Our galaxy is just one of more than 100 billion
galaxies in the observable universe which is probably a minuscule
fraction of the actual number.
8. Uranus lies on its side causing it to ‘roll’ around the Sun. Strangely,
its equator has been tilted more than ninety degrees to its orbit.
Perhaps early in its history it collided with a huge unknown object.
In 1781 it was the first planet since ancient times to be discovered
(by William Herschel). The atmosphere is mainly hydrogen with
some helium and methane. Of its thirty or so moons, Titania,
Oberon, Umbriel and Arial are over 1000 km in diameter. It has a
faint ring system discovered in 1977 when it moved in front
of a star.
< Saturn 1500 metres Neptune 1600 metres>
St
NE PE AN HW Y
N St
Grey
St
BE St
St
LYDE
CA
RL
ISL
St
E S
t
LY
RK
BA
CKENS St
Pluto
Sun
START St Kilda
FINISH Port Melbourne
LENGTH 5.9 kilometres
TIME Up to 90 minutes
BIKE STATIONS www.melbournebikeshare.com.au
REFRESHMENTS There are numerous cafés along
the route