Maine Solar System Model - Uranus - Bridgewater, Maine
N 46° 25.175 W 067° 50.595
19T E 588890 N 5141317
Quick Description: What unfolds along a stretch of a highway through the rolling farm country of northern Maine is billed as the world's largest scale model of the solar system.
Location: Maine, United States
Date Posted: 12/12/2008 11:42:43 AM
Waymark Code: WM5BD7
Views: 20
Long Description:"Kevin McCartney, professor of geology at the University of Maine
at Presque Isle, is the mastermind behind the Maine Solar System
Model, a three-dimensional, 93 million-to-one scale model along
Route 1, from Topsfield to Presque Isle.
Constructed in 2003, it originally included the sun, nine planets
(poor Pluto hadn’t been demoted yet), and seven moons. With the
reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet, McCartney and students
have added other dwarf planets, such as Ceres and Eris, and the
interplanetary travel route has doubled from 40 to about 80 miles.
Almost all of the planets can be seen from Route 1.
Like the rest of the model, the parts for Ceres and Eris were built
and funded by the local community, including students from more
than a dozen schools that span a wide area of northern Maine. As
more dwarf planets are discovered, McCartney plans to add them to
the solar system model. That, he says, might extend it far beyond
Aroostook county. “It may not be too long before we have a dwarf
planet near you,” he quipped.
The sun, by the way, is at the Northern Maine Museum of Science,
in Folsom Hall, at UMPI. Nothing too high tech here, but it’s a
great teaching museum and especially fun for kids."
Info from:
(visit link)
There are also two geocaches associated with this model:
GCQCX1 and GCQCWA