Otford Solar System Model
Posted by: 
Team Sieni
N 51° 18.937 E 000° 11.298
31U E 304062 N 5688678
A scale model of the solar system as at midnight 1 January 2000.
Waymark Code: WM4P49
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/14/2008
Views: 41
The Village of Otford has two splendid Millenium monuments. There is the mosaic representation of the history of the village WM4P41 and this solar system model.
This model is quite wonderful. The sun is a mirrored 303mm dome. Each planet is represented as a to-scale engraving on a plate mounted on a pillar.
The positions of the pillars reflect the positions of the planets at midnight on 1 January 2000.
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are on the recreation field, Jupiter on the edge of the field, Saturn in an adjoining lane, and so on to Pluto, which is over a kilometre's walk away, in a hedgerow on a public footpath.
A 38mm model of the nearest star, Proxima Centauri is in the Griffith Laboratory, Los Angeles, 5,390 miles away. This makes it the largest scale model in the world. A 600mm globe representing Sirius the Dog Star (the brightest star in our hemisphere) can be seen at Sydney Observatory 10,550 miles away and a 50mm ball for Barnard's Star in the Falklands Islands Museum 7,825 miles away.
The tiny, tiny engravings of the planets and the great distances really emphasise the emptiness and vastness of space
I have attached a good quality picture of the display, which is well worth a read.
Visit Instructions:To record a visit to a Millennium Waymark, please:
Take a photo of the item during your visit.
Describe your visit and what you thought about the item.
Please also mention what you personally did to mark the new Millennium. Was it a night to remember?