If the solar system were scaled down so Jupiter's orbit was 6 feet wide, how wide would Earth's orbit (the ecliptic reference) be?
Answer
about 4 inches in diameter
This thought experiment illustrates the extreme flatness of the major planetary orbits within the solar system relative to the vast distances involved. If the entire structure were dramatically scaled down so that the orbit of Jupiter, the outermost major planet, spanned a width equivalent to a standard dining room table (about six feet across), the Earth's orbit, which defines the ecliptic reference plane, would shrink to a remarkably small circle measuring approximately four inches in diameter. The Sun itself, at the center of this model, would become so small that it would effectively vanish from naked-eye visibility, demonstrating how tightly clustered the inner planets are to the ecliptic plane.
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