OMG SPACE

I'm not a scientist, but I love science.  I generally understand what scientists are talking about, even when they talk in scientific-language.  But a lot of people don't.  One example of this is the distances in space.  The late Carl Sagan was masterful at taking complex topics and re-wording them into everyday language that would make the average person think, "Whoa... that's amazing!"  In my own way, I attempt to do the same thing with simple "seeing what's up" in the night sky: There's Jupiter, here's where to look for Saturn, an interesting double star, etc.  But there are some concepts that just need.... someone else.  Something else.  Something visual.  

Enter OMG SPACE.

The beauty of a web page is that it can extend down (for scrolling) a very, VERY long way.  That allows a person to take certain concepts - like the size of objects in our solar system, and their distances - and plot them accurately.  That's exactly what Margot Trudell has done with OMG SPACE.  There is A LOT of space in... well, space.  And the planets are small compared to the Sun.  But HOW to actually see that, and get a true sense of the distance between objects.

Well, visit OMG SPACE and see for yourself.

You may wish to use the text links at the bottom to get to each planet.  I totally missed Mercury when I tried to scroll to it, because it is so small compared to the Sun.