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If you look up an image
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of the Earth and moon,
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you're gonna get a picture
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where they're quite close together.
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Something like that.
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But, in reality,
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the Earth and moon are about...
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about that far apart.
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That is the Earth and the moon to scale.
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Taking the same concept-
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but for the solar system,
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every single picture of the solar system
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that we ever encounter is not to scale.
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If you put the orbits to scale
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on a piece of paper,
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the planets become microscopic,
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and
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you won't be able to
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see them.
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There is literally not an image
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that adequately shows you
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what it actually looks like from out there.
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The only way to see a scale model of the solar system
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is to build one.
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To Scale:[br]The Solar System
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Welcome to Black Rock Desert.
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This is Alex,
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[Hey]
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I'm Wylie,
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he's going to be behind the camera,
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I'm gonna be probably-
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making a lot of mistakes on camera...
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We have 36 hours to measure the distances,
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trace out the orbits,
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and set up a time lapse shot
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from up on top of a nearby mountain.
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To create a scale model with an Earth
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only as big as this marble,
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you need seven miles of empty space.
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So that's why we're here.
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Why did you guys come?
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I don't have a job...
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[Laughing]
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At this scale,
0:02:07.631,0:02:11.286
the Sun is a meter and a half so about...
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about that big around...
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So we are driving right now to Mercury,
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and we've arrived.
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Venus is the same size as Earth
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have the world in my pocket somewhere...
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And...
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And Earth...
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And this is Mars...
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Got a couple of robots rolling around on that one.
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Once the time lapse is ready,
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we'll drive each orbit with a light,
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hopefully you'll be able
0:03:04.856,0:03:09.303
to tell just how big they really are.
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Onward to the outer planets...
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Jupiter...
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Saturn...
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That tiny light out there is our Sun,
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just over a mile away.
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Sun way...
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way out there now.
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And this is it,
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the edge of the solar system.
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So right now,
0:04:46.043,0:04:47.968
it's about 7 am,
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we just woke up right before the Sun is about your rise...
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We are on Earth's orbit,
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Wylie is over there holding our Sun,
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cue the dramatic sunrise music.
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So if we've made our model correctly,
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your perspective from where Earth is on the model,
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will match your perspective
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from standing on the real Earth.
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So if you look back at the sun,
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you will see that the model sun
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and the real Sun are the exact same size.
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That's how you can tell
0:05:24.272,0:05:26.632
that the proportions are correct.
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There are...
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24 people in the entire history of the human species-
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billions of people
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who have actually seen
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the full circle of the Earth with their own eyes.
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"Following the breakfast the astronauts"
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"went to the suit room where they donned their space suits..."
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"This is Man's attempt to get to the moon..."
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"1..."
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"0..."
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"We have liftoff..."
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"liftoff of 7:51~"
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In Earth orbit the horizon is just slightly curved.
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When you head on out to the moon,
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that horizon slowly curves around and upon itself,
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and all of a sudden you're lookin' at something
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that is very strange,
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but very very familiar...
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"Oh my god"
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"look at that picture over there..."
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"Wow is that pretty"
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You can put your thumb up,
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and you can hide the Earth behind your thumb.
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Everything that you've ever known.
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All behind your thumb.
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Not any bigger than that,
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way up there.
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It's really beautiful.
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mean you'll cry.
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That's what I really wanted to try and capture.
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We are on a marble,
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floating in the middle of nothing.
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When you come face-to-face with that,
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it's staggering...