1 00:00:14,191 --> 00:00:15,138 If you look up an image 2 00:00:15,138 --> 00:00:16,842 of the Earth and moon, 3 00:00:17,290 --> 00:00:18,533 you're gonna get a picture 4 00:00:18,533 --> 00:00:20,098 where they're quite close together. 5 00:00:20,852 --> 00:00:21,501 Something like that. 6 00:00:22,454 --> 00:00:24,367 But, in reality, 7 00:00:24,597 --> 00:00:26,343 the Earth and moon are about... 8 00:00:27,802 --> 00:00:29,246 about that far apart. 9 00:00:29,297 --> 00:00:32,728 That is the Earth and the moon to scale. 10 00:00:33,821 --> 00:00:35,470 Taking the same concept- 11 00:00:35,470 --> 00:00:36,769 but for the solar system, 12 00:00:37,310 --> 00:00:39,953 every single picture of the solar system 13 00:00:39,953 --> 00:00:42,652 that we ever encounter is not to scale. 14 00:00:43,118 --> 00:00:44,929 If you put the orbits to scale 15 00:00:44,929 --> 00:00:46,006 on a piece of paper, 16 00:00:46,599 --> 00:00:48,834 the planets become microscopic, 17 00:00:49,167 --> 00:00:49,417 and 18 00:00:49,417 --> 00:00:50,438 you won't be able to 19 00:00:50,438 --> 00:00:51,873 see them. 20 00:00:51,914 --> 00:00:53,915 There is literally not an image 21 00:00:53,915 --> 00:00:55,788 that adequately shows you 22 00:00:55,818 --> 00:00:58,487 what it actually looks like from out there. 23 00:01:00,842 --> 00:01:04,842 The only way to see a scale model of the solar system 24 00:01:04,957 --> 00:01:05,882 is to build one. 25 00:01:11,353 --> 00:01:16,216 To Scale: The Solar System 26 00:01:20,879 --> 00:01:22,309 Welcome to Black Rock Desert. 27 00:01:26,464 --> 00:01:27,139 This is Alex, 28 00:01:27,139 --> 00:01:27,264 [Hey] 29 00:01:27,264 --> 00:01:27,791 I'm Wylie, 30 00:01:28,183 --> 00:01:29,625 he's going to be behind the camera, 31 00:01:30,126 --> 00:01:31,626 I'm gonna be probably- 32 00:01:31,626 --> 00:01:33,408 making a lot of mistakes on camera... 33 00:01:33,832 --> 00:01:36,451 We have 36 hours to measure the distances, 34 00:01:36,571 --> 00:01:37,837 trace out the orbits, 35 00:01:37,837 --> 00:01:39,446 and set up a time lapse shot 36 00:01:39,476 --> 00:01:41,431 from up on top of a nearby mountain. 37 00:01:45,204 --> 00:01:47,514 To create a scale model with an Earth 38 00:01:47,514 --> 00:01:49,166 only as big as this marble, 39 00:01:49,682 --> 00:01:53,437 you need seven miles of empty space. 40 00:01:55,710 --> 00:01:56,696 So that's why we're here. 41 00:01:57,341 --> 00:01:58,843 Why did you guys come? 42 00:01:59,453 --> 00:02:00,323 I don't have a job... 43 00:02:00,323 --> 00:02:02,114 [Laughing] 44 00:02:06,632 --> 00:02:07,631 At this scale, 45 00:02:07,631 --> 00:02:11,286 the Sun is a meter and a half so about... 46 00:02:11,526 --> 00:02:12,629 about that big around... 47 00:02:14,718 --> 00:02:17,463 So we are driving right now to Mercury, 48 00:02:17,623 --> 00:02:19,638 and we've arrived. 49 00:02:27,180 --> 00:02:29,891 Venus is the same size as Earth 50 00:02:35,665 --> 00:02:36,946 have the world in my pocket somewhere... 51 00:02:38,442 --> 00:02:39,916 And... 52 00:02:39,916 --> 00:02:41,596 And Earth... 53 00:02:49,115 --> 00:02:50,937 And this is Mars... 54 00:02:51,907 --> 00:02:54,109 Got a couple of robots rolling around on that one. 55 00:02:59,101 --> 00:03:00,752 Once the time lapse is ready, 56 00:03:01,001 --> 00:03:02,821 we'll drive each orbit with a light, 57 00:03:03,536 --> 00:03:04,856 hopefully you'll be able 58 00:03:04,856 --> 00:03:09,303 to tell just how big they really are. 59 00:03:10,602 --> 00:03:13,059 Onward to the outer planets... 60 00:03:17,970 --> 00:03:19,115 Jupiter... 61 00:03:32,059 --> 00:03:33,978 Saturn... 62 00:03:33,978 --> 00:03:36,049 That tiny light out there is our Sun, 63 00:03:36,049 --> 00:03:39,042 just over a mile away. 64 00:03:47,552 --> 00:03:48,651 Sun way... 65 00:03:48,681 --> 00:03:50,851 way out there now. 66 00:04:05,237 --> 00:04:06,084 And this is it, 67 00:04:06,134 --> 00:04:08,631 the edge of the solar system. 68 00:04:45,289 --> 00:04:46,043 So right now, 69 00:04:46,043 --> 00:04:47,968 it's about 7 am, 70 00:04:48,568 --> 00:04:50,910 we just woke up right before the Sun is about your rise... 71 00:04:51,702 --> 00:04:53,802 We are on Earth's orbit, 72 00:04:53,802 --> 00:04:55,836 Wylie is over there holding our Sun, 73 00:04:57,356 --> 00:05:00,406 cue the dramatic sunrise music. 74 00:05:02,626 --> 00:05:04,448 So if we've made our model correctly, 75 00:05:04,721 --> 00:05:08,101 your perspective from where Earth is on the model, 76 00:05:08,631 --> 00:05:10,990 will match your perspective 77 00:05:10,990 --> 00:05:13,229 from standing on the real Earth. 78 00:05:13,683 --> 00:05:15,986 So if you look back at the sun, 79 00:05:15,986 --> 00:05:17,673 you will see that the model sun 80 00:05:17,753 --> 00:05:22,225 and the real Sun are the exact same size. 81 00:05:22,987 --> 00:05:24,272 That's how you can tell 82 00:05:24,272 --> 00:05:26,632 that the proportions are correct. 83 00:05:29,421 --> 00:05:30,554 There are... 84 00:05:30,784 --> 00:05:34,554 24 people in the entire history of the human species- 85 00:05:34,624 --> 00:05:35,434 billions of people 86 00:05:35,434 --> 00:05:37,696 who have actually seen 87 00:05:37,716 --> 00:05:41,686 the full circle of the Earth with their own eyes. 88 00:05:41,686 --> 00:05:43,488 "Following the breakfast the astronauts" 89 00:05:43,538 --> 00:05:46,335 "went to the suit room where they donned their space suits..." 90 00:05:46,335 --> 00:05:48,301 "This is Man's attempt to get to the moon..." 91 00:05:48,301 --> 00:05:49,299 "1..." 92 00:05:49,299 --> 00:05:50,059 "0..." 93 00:05:50,099 --> 00:05:51,649 "We have liftoff..." 94 00:05:51,768 --> 00:05:54,195 "liftoff of 7:51~" 95 00:05:54,195 --> 00:05:56,693 In Earth orbit the horizon is just slightly curved. 96 00:05:57,399 --> 00:05:59,092 When you head on out to the moon, 97 00:05:59,092 --> 00:06:01,889 that horizon slowly curves around and upon itself, 98 00:06:01,889 --> 00:06:03,939 and all of a sudden you're lookin' at something 99 00:06:04,024 --> 00:06:04,858 that is very strange, 100 00:06:04,908 --> 00:06:06,620 but very very familiar... 101 00:06:06,819 --> 00:06:07,658 "Oh my god" 102 00:06:07,658 --> 00:06:08,908 "look at that picture over there..." 103 00:06:09,322 --> 00:06:10,533 "Wow is that pretty" 104 00:06:11,036 --> 00:06:12,237 You can put your thumb up, 105 00:06:13,016 --> 00:06:15,408 and you can hide the Earth behind your thumb. 106 00:06:16,688 --> 00:06:18,322 Everything that you've ever known. 107 00:06:19,150 --> 00:06:20,525 All behind your thumb. 108 00:06:21,405 --> 00:06:22,568 Not any bigger than that, 109 00:06:22,568 --> 00:06:23,080 way up there. 110 00:06:23,682 --> 00:06:25,340 It's really beautiful. 111 00:06:26,256 --> 00:06:27,256 mean you'll cry. 112 00:06:31,067 --> 00:06:34,111 That's what I really wanted to try and capture. 113 00:06:35,281 --> 00:06:36,415 We are on a marble, 114 00:06:36,415 --> 00:06:38,064 floating in the middle of nothing. 115 00:06:39,610 --> 00:06:41,360 When you come face-to-face with that, 116 00:06:43,044 --> 00:06:43,951 it's staggering...