monumento al sistema solare

Immaginate un monumento che renda comprensibile l'immensità del nostro sistema solare: si realizzano proporzionalmente le dimensioni dei nostri corpi celesti e delle distanze reciproche.
Potrebbero poi essere collocati in cima a montagne e colline in modo da poter essere vagamente visibili (a volte) tra loro.
In realtà solo i primi pianeti potrebbero vedere chiaramente il Sole perchè gli altri sarebbero troppo distanti per poter intravedere la nostra stella data la curvatura della superficie terrestre e l'atmosfera che impedisce di vedere oggetti a partire di una certa distanza.
Perché in effetti stiamo parlando di stanze piuttosto consistenti...
per esempio:
Immaginiamo una sfera di 1 metro e 20 cm di diametro che rappresenti il pianeta Terra, la Luna sarebbe una sfera di solo 35 cm di diametro a una distanza di 38 metri dal centro della Terra.
E il Sole? Dovremmo collocarlo a 15 km di distanza... ma questo non è il problema principale, il problema sarebbe creare una sfera di 140 metri di diametro... forse sarebbe il caso di creare una cupola di questo diametro su una conca semisferica scavata nel terreno. Questo monumento sarebbe visitabile e forse il più rappresentativo dell'intera composizione del nostro sistema solare.

Un'altra soluzione potrebbe essere metterlo in cima a un palazzo, visibile a distanza, illuminato di notte dal monumento-Terra (piccola pallina di poco più di un metro a 15 km di distanza...
Ma per gli altri pianeti? dove metterli?
Mercurio starebbe a quasi 6 km dal centro del Sole e sarebbe una piccola sfera di 50cm.
Venere  si troverebbe a 11 km dal Sole e avrebbe un diametro uguale alla terra approssimativamente.
Marte a 23 km dal Sole e sarebbe una palla di 70cm.
Giove sarebbe invece un pallone di 14 metri di diametro e starebbe a una distanza di 78 km dal Sole.
Saturno, una sfera di 11 metri e mezzo, andrebbe piazzato a 144 km dal Sole.
Urano sarebbe grande 5 metri e si troverebbe alla già più considerevole distanza di 287 km dalla nostra stella.
Nettuno, per finire, avrebbe anche lui un diametro di 5 metri, ma la sua distanza dal Sole sarebbe di ben 450 km.
Di fronte a distanze così grandi... vedere una pallina di 1 metro e 20 cm... il nostro unico mondo... sarebbe un impatto psicologico abbastanza forte.
Immaginate collocare il Sole a Roma, si potrebbero scegliere altre 8 località per collocare i pianeti da una parte all'altra d'Italia e creare un monumento su scala nazionale per far capire l'immensità del nostro spazio più prossimo.
Stare nel sole, a Roma, e sapere che Nettuno (una palla di 5 metri)si trova, per esempio, a Verona (o a Messina) è una cosa che fa riflettere.
Si verrebbe anche a creare, forse, un turismo del tour dei pianeti del nostro sistema solare...

how empty is our solar system

how empty is our solar system?

sometimes you can find some representation of the sizes of the planets of our system in comparison with our sun (they're so tiny...) or in other images you can find the orbits of our planets (from the sun tu mars the planets seems to be so close... on the other hand the other giant planets are so far away...

but none of these two representations give us a real idea of how empty is our solar system...

scroll this image to reach the end of it.

over there you see our planet earth.

the earth is just a small point. 

almost invisible.

mercury and venus are two very close planets... but can you realize the amount of emptiness around us? just open the image in another page and visualize it on its real dimension. it's quite shocking to realize the real proportion of our planet are really those ones!

building another earth

in these days there's a lot of information about the discovery in a far solar system of a planet that's very similar to the earth.
its name is Kepler-186f and it seems to be the more similar planet to ours ever discover before.
moreover this planet spins at a distance from its sun that's not that different to ours.
the only little problem of Kepler-186f is that it's 490 light-years far away from us.
humans seem to be very concerned in finding a new planet to be colonized, especially considering the devastation we are provoking to the earth, it's better to consider the option.
other missions intends to create stable micro-colonies on mars' surface... I mean, is it really necessary?
if we are so sure that the only place for life as we know it is at a certain distance from the sun and that we have to find a new place for us... why don't we build a new planet in the place we want, not far from the earth?

let's start with a structure of a hollow planet made by waste and rubbish we don't want in our planet.
let's put it in orbit, in a structured way.
we start as it was a far satellite and we start building more and more of its frame.
in the end we would have a smaller ball, that's quite far from the earth. it surface would be bigger than it's mass in proportion, cause it will be build as a hollow ball.
the new ball will be implemented by rocks and materials mined from the moon and the other planets, in order to provide a certain surface and mass to this new artificial planet.
now that the core of the new planet is done, we can fill it with terrestrial earth and as the new satellite will be at the same distance from the sun of the earth it will be fit for the implantation of life.

so, let's start to dwell new artificial planets we build near the earth! come on!!

(of course starting colonizing the moon it would be much easier, but not that interesting in terms of innovation!)

we can also think about the possibility of inflating a big balloon, as big as a planet and starting colonizing it.
why not...
everything seems to be easier than saving our poor planet earth...
sad but true...

si madrid fuese el sol!

qué pasaría si el centro de Madrid fuera nada menos que el centro de nuestro sistema solar?!
un hipótesis nada mal! no os parece?
pues, vamos a ver como sería:
siendo Madrid el Sol, su punto central deberá ser obligatoriamente  (y simbólicamente) Plaza del Sol, como dice el nombre mismo! jeje.
Si ahora calculamos que 1 millón de km = 1 km lo que obtendríamos sería una bola de fuego que se iría del Paseo del Prado al Palacio Real, abarcando prácticamente todo el centro de la ciudad de Madrid.

siendo así... a cuántos kilómetros de Plaza del Sol creéis que podrían estar los planetas de nuestro sistema solar?
empezamos con los primeros 4, los planetas rocosos, los más cercanos y pequeños: Mercurio, Venus, la Tierra y Marte.
Mercurio estaría a 58 km del centro de Madrid, o sea que su posición podría corresponder a grandes rasgos al centro de la ciudad de Guadalajara.
Venus se encontraría a unos 110 km de Plaza del Sol, o sea que más o menos se encontraría en la ciudad de Sigüenza.
Nuestra querida Tierra estaría a una distancia de 150 km lo cual corresponde a la distancia entre Madrid y Valladolid. Sí, lo sé, es sorprendente: la Tierra es Valladolid!
Mientras que Marte estaría a unos 230 km del centro de la capital, lo cual quiere decir Albacete.

Así que siendo el Sol una bolita que cubre apenas el centro de Madrid, ya hemos visto que en territorio español solo caben otros 4 granitos de arena, o sea nuestros primeros planetas más pequeños y más cercanos al Sol.
Y los otros qué?
a qué distancia estarían de Madrid?
pues, vamos a ver: Jupiter estaría a unos 780 km de la capital, lo cual corresponde, por ejemplo a la ciudad de Avignon, en Francia!
y Saturno? Saturno estaría muchos más lejos a 1450 km de Madrid, exactamente la distancia que separa esa ciudad de la ciudad de Venecia, en Italia.

obviamente no os imaginéis que los planetas sean grandes como la bola de fuego que cubre Madrid!
se trata de esferas mucho más pequeñas: por ejemplo, los dos planetas más grandes de nuestro sistema, Jupíter y Saturno no llegarían a cubrir unos barrios como hace nuestra querida estrella el Sol, sino que Jupiter podría corresponder tranquilamente al tamaño del palacio de los papas en Avignon y Saturno cabría en el espacio de plaza San Marcos (los anillos se pasarían un poco de la medida, pero bueno...)

y los dos últimos planetas de nuestro sistema solar? donde estarían?
Urano estaría a 2850 km de Madrid, lo cual, por ejemplo, corresponde a la ciudad de Kiev, Ucrania, lo cual no está mal como distancia.
y para acabar Neptuno, el último planeta de la lista que se ubicaría a los extremos orientales de nuestro continente, sobre las costas del mar Caspio, en la posición de la ciudad de Baku, capital de Azerbaiyán, a 4500 km de Madrid.

casualmente los límites de nuestro sistema solar corresponden a los límites orientales de nuestro continente, una buena analogía, creo.
de todos modos tenéis que pensar que entre estas pequeñas 8 bolas que están distribuidas a lo largo de toda Europa de este a oeste no hay nada más que vacío y más vacío.
(bueno sí: también habría unos asteroides, algunos satélites y alguna cometa vagando....)
somos realmente suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper pequeños!!!
y totalmente perdidos en la nada!

de hecho la Tierra? qué tamaño creéis que pueda tener la tierra en esta inmensidad que mide un continente entero?
pues, la tierra sería una bolita de unos 12 metros de diámetro.
podría tranquilamente ser un pequeño monumento cualquiera que cabría en medio de alguna plaza del centro de la ciudad de Valladolid.
y fuera de allí, tan solo oscuridad y vacío por cientos y miles de kilómetros!!!

pero hay que admitir que nuestra bolita podrá ser perdida y pequeña, pero es muy muy muy bonita! y qué vista se tiene del espacio exterior desde aquí! una maravilla!

AUSTRALIA IN OTHER PLANETS

how would a Jupiter's Australia be in comparison with the Earth's original one? very very huge, of course!
that's maybe a very stupid question but the answer can give us a perfect idea about the differences of sizes of the planets of our Solar System!

So let's make Australia bigger or smaller proportionally following the differences of sizes of the planets and let's overlap the resulting maps over a world map. how big do you think it would be a Saturn's Australia? and a Mars' one?
it can be interesting: here it goes.

and to give you the same idea in another way I also add this image:

anyway maybe the better comparison is combining together all the maps of the bigger Australias:

and combining together the other maps of the smaller Australias:

you have to admit that some planets are really huge! and some others are so small... poor Mars, for instance...

living Mars!

in the same way I realized the post "seas of the moon" here below I decided to do the same with some of the solid planets of our solar system that are similar to our planet earth. so, why not to start with Mars, our twin planet that probably used to host life in ancient times in the same way earth does?

so, the process is the same and it's quite easy: you take an image you can easily find in the net showing the elevations of the red planet, like this:

now you just have to select the colours that represent the lower elevations and put a blue colour of an ocean in the selected areas. in this way you'll represent the way the waters would fill the surface of the planet if there were the right conditions.

here you have the first result:

but this is not enough! this image represents the lands that would be covered by waters and the areas that would remain dry and elevated over the level of the seas, but if we imagine that waters would come back to planet Mars we can also imagine that the atmosphere would come back to it as it was in ancient times, so this could permit the creation of a new process of life!
if we make the easiest comparison between Mars and Earth and we imagine the lands would be covered by plants processing the light in the same way they do in our planet we can represent a green layer over the red soil of Mars, and we can also imagine winds and sea streams would work in the same way there in Mars as here in the Earth. so we should think about the presence of ice in the poles and of deserts in the tropics lines.
so, here you have the new face of the red planet if life (as we think on earth) would come back in that planet:

and now, to finish this imaginative perspective over Mars, let's pass from the mercator's projection of the map of the planet to a spherical representation of the new living condition of our twin planet:
here you have the new look of Mars, the living planet!

the seas of the moon

what would the moon look like if there were water in its surface?
if we imagine there could be lot of water in the moon we can reproduce the extensions of the moon seas.
let's take an available image of the elevations of the moon:

now let's suppose that the sea level should stay in the exact middle way between the highest mountains and the lowest floors. the level zero of the moon.
let's fill our good old satellite with salted water and let's see how it would look like:

this is the final result of the moon filled up of water but that's only the visible side of the moon.
let's have a look also to the other face of the satellite: from the visible side to the dark side!

and finally this is the vision we could have from the sky.

spheres of time

developing the same idea of "my life in volumes" I decided to go further realizing another visualization of the time units: how would be the relations between the different periods and moments of my life (36 years) if any of these periods would be represented as a sphere?

the effect should be like a series of planets floating in the space, the volume of whose would be proportional to the time they represent.

the basic unit is a second and all the periods are expressed as a volume multiple to the seconds. here you have the table that I made in order to get the diametre of the sphere, that was the datum I needed to represent the graphical view.

and here you have the final visualization starting from a small point (1 pixel) representing a second till the final sphere of 36 years that represent my whole life so far.

it's amazing to notice how big a day looks in comparison with an entire sphere of 36 years!!

men in other planets

how big the men should be if they were dwelling other planets and their size were proportional to the dimension of the planet they live?

here you have the answer:

planet Earth's men are as big as a planet Jupiter's men's foot

africa in other planets

playing a bit more with comparisons between the dimensions of the planets of our solar system I decided to export part of our planet Earth to other places of the outer space just to make directly understandable the proportions of the sizes of the planets.

that's what I did: I took a famous continent of our mother earth, Africa, well placed in it's own notorious steady position in our globe, as you can see in the following image:

and then I make it travel from a planet to another of our solar system and I spread it along the different sizes of the spheres of the globes which turn turn around the Sun together with us.
so, here you can see a souvenir pic that Africa shot to herself during the trips to Mercury, Venus and Mars:

and here it's always Africa during her visits to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

It's an interesting way to understand a bit better the proportions of our planets, don't you think?

here you can see all the planets together.

pianeti nel cielo

come sarebbe il nostro cielo se al posto della nostra carissima luna ci fossero i pianeti del nostro sistema solare?
innanzi tutto in molti casi sarebbe la terra a diventare il satellite e non il pianeta su cui orbitare, ma ok, queste digressioni non hanno nessun senso. sto solo immaginando come cambierebbe la visione del nostro cielo.

allora, innanzi tutto sostituiamo alla luna i pianeti attraverso lo sechema seguente, cosí da poter poi capire le relazioni proporzionali tra la luna e i vari pianeti.

con queste proporzioni adesso possiamo sostituire la normale forma di una luna nel cielo come la vedremmo guardando un paesaggio normale con le forme e dimensioni dei pianeti del nostro sistema solare e quindi ci faremmo definitivamente un'idea delle proporzioni di questi famosi corpi celesti rispetto al nostro satellite.
dunque se questa è l'immagine normale del paesaggio con la nostra luna:

ecco allora come apparirebbe la stessa scena se invece del nostro satellite avessimo il pianeta Mercurio:

cosi invece apparirebbe Venere:

ed ecco la visione di Marte al posto della luna:

ovviamente Giove è il gigante del nostro sistema solare, ed eccolo qua:

Saturno, anche lui, non scherza in dimensioni... ho avuto qualche dubbio su come apparirebbero gli anelli, ma penso di non sbagliarmi troppo ipotizzando che la visione sarebbe più o meno questa:

Urano, con il suo bell'azzurrino chiaro, alla stessa distanza della luna sarebbe più o meno cosí:

e per finire Nettuno, apparirebbe in questo modo: