The Sun Along 'Cycle The Solar System' - Bishopthorpe, UK - Solar System Models on Waymarking.com

The Solar System Model

The model is along part of National Cycle Route 65 that was converted from a former railway line to a 'rails to trails' route.

In 1999, the nearby York University that has an observatory, built a scale model of the Solar System along the route as part of the celebrations for the Millennium. They named the model 'Cycle the Solar System'.

Along it you can find scale models of the sun and all the planets in our solar system as well as models of the Cassini and Voyager spacecraft. The scale of the model is 575,872,239 to 1. So every 100 metres along the track corresponds to more than 57 million kilometres in space. This means that along the route the speed of light is about 1.16 mph, so it is easy to walk at around 3 times the speed of light and to cycle at about 10 times the speed of light!

The start of the route is close to the Askham Bar Park and Ride site and there is parking at the other end in the streets of Riccall.

Each of the models which is made to scale has direction arrows to the next model with distances in metres along the path and kilometres in space.

The Model Of the Sun

As would be expected the Sun is the largest model along the route. It is made from 2 fibreglass hemispheres manufactured for a septic tank. A hole was cut into one of the hemisphere and then the two halves were fiber glassed together. Next the internal steel work to support the Sun was installed and the sphere sealed before being painted gold. The supporting steel-work was manufactured by Minster Engineering. The foundations were prepared, 10 tons of concrete poured in and finally the finished model was installed.

Address: National Cycle Route 65 Near to Askham Bar Park And Ride Bishopthorpe, Yorkshire United Kingdom YO23 2BB To-Scale by distance: yes To-Scale by Size: yes Is the model an Orrery?: no Web Page: [Web Link] Hours: All the time Admission Fee: Not Listed

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