01
Logarithmic, not linear
On a true linear scale, Mercury through Mars would bunch up in the first few pixels and Neptune would be off-screen. The distance view above uses a log scale to keep every planet visible.
Learn · Question
Why aren't solar system diagrams drawn to scale?
No single diagram can show planet size and orbital distance accurately at the same time. Switch between the two views below to see why — the same eight planets, drawn two honest but incompatible ways.
Visual model
Pick one: size, or distance. Not both.
Zoom until the planets disappear.
Explore from the Sun to Neptune, or follow one planet from close-up until its disk becomes smaller than one screen pixel. Use the wheel, pinch, slider, or guided flight; distance ratios stay physical.
From Mercury at 0.39 AU to Neptune at 30.05 AU, the empty distances grow much faster than the planet images.
Explore the zoomable model, or compare the original evidence diagrams below.
Start with a planet you can see.Camera radius · close-up
0.01 px1 px boundary100 px
A full disk becomes less than one display pixel as the camera pulls back.
Planet imagery and model limitations
Close-up source maps: Earth from NASA GSFC Blue Marble (assembled observational composite), Jupiter from JPL/Caltech (Voyager-derived representative map). Maps are projected onto schematic spheres; directional shading is illustrative. Other planets are shown as conceptual color disks, not photographs. One CSS pixel is a display sampling reference, not a physical light-detection limit.
Reduced motion: the automatic fly-through is disabled; zoom and planet selection work manually.
Camera distance comparison ready.
Earth: approximate orbital separation and diameter appear here.
This is a schematic, top-down camera lens, not an observed planetary configuration or real space mission. Orbit radii use linear AU ratios, but shown planetary phases are arbitrary, paths are drawn circular and foreshortened for perspective, and space/background styling is artistic. Markers are deliberately oversized unless you select true diameters. A physically accurate body may be invisible at this scale. Camera zoom itself changes logarithmically; the underlying distances stay linear. No physical flight time or spacecraft velocity is implied. The original linear size and logarithmic distance comparison below remains available.
Planetary diameters use one linear scale here (Earth = 14 pixels). The gaps between planets are arbitrary, and tiny planets may be only a few pixels wide. Jupiter really is about 11× Earth's diameter.
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Average Sun–planet distances are plotted on a logarithmic axis here (not on a linear physical-distance scale). Every planet is drawn as the same small dot — at true relative size, the inner planets would be invisible pixels.
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Diameter ratios: NASA GSFC Planetary Fact Sheet. Earth = 1.00; Jupiter = 11.21. A circle's diameter, not its area, represents the ratio.
What's simplified
Even the "distance" view isn't fully honest.
02
Orbits aren't circles
Real orbits are ellipses, and this simplification (like most diagrams) treats distance as a single number rather than a range.
03
2D, not 3D
Planets don't orbit in exactly the same plane. This diagram, like almost every solar system diagram, flattens that out.
Go deeper
Keep exploring.
Next in this series →
Reading space images ↗
Distinguishing photos from models.
Home
Solar system model
See the same size/distance trade-off explained on the homepage's Scale Lab.
JPL
Make a scale solar system
Build a physical model and feel the size/distance trade-off in a hallway.