The Planets Are Very, Very, Very, Far Away

Quick: Picture the solar system. Do you see nine planets on tidy rings around the Sun? Then you have been lied to!

It's not without reason: We have to draw the solar system that way to fit it on a placemat, a lunchbox, or in an ordinary book. But that familiar diagram is wrong about almost everything - and so this is no ordinary book. Seven gatefold pages open out not once but twice, capturing our planetary neighbors at scale.

At a trillion-to-one scale, the Sun is about the size of a dime. And five feet away from the Sun, we find... Earth, the size of a pinhead. A trillion-to-one scale is not nearly small enough to fit our solar system into a book (or onto a soccer field)! How small do we need to go? Unfold the spreads to find out...

Winner of the 2024 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books

"This short book uses multiple large pullout sections, six landscape pages wide, to illustrate the Solar System . . . a great way to show how vast and empty the Solar System is.-- "Science"
The Planets are Very Very Very Far Away is an excellent book. One that has a mission and 100% succeeds at completing it. If you're looking to inspire your children to the wonders of the Solar System, this is an excellent and innovative way to do so.-- "GeekDad"

Mike Vago is the creator of the bestselling The Miniature Book of Miniature Golf. He's a graphic designer and a regular contributor to The A.V. Club. He tells people he lives in New York, but he actually lives in New Jersey..

Quick: Picture the solar system. Do you see nine planets on tidy rings around the Sun? Then you have been lied to!It's not without reason: We have to draw the solar system that way to fit it on a placemat, a lunchbox, or in an ordinary book. But that familiar diagram is wrong about almost everything - and so this is no ordinary book. Seven gatefold pages open out not once but twice, capturing our planetary neighbors at scale.At a trillion-to-one scale, the Sun is about the size of a dime. And five feet away from the Sun, we find... Earth, the size of a pinhead. A trillion-to-one scale is not nearly small enough to fit our solar system into a book (or onto a soccer field)! How small do we need to go? Unfold the spreads to find out...

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