“Truth? You can't handle the truth!”

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Well if it helps, if you intend to trace the orbits you could just draw them as perfect circles. The elliptical nature of planetary orbits is usually exaggerated for diagrams to make it clearer. For your drawing, the the difference between Aphelion and Perihelion would be no greater than the thickness of the line (assuming the line is thick enough to be visible).

[JOE SOAP]

I demand examples.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bov9M2gEgcE

[JOE SOAP]

BY YOUR HAND!

[The Legendary Shark]

Well if it helps, if you intend to trace the orbits you could just draw them as perfect circles. The elliptical nature of planetary orbits is usually exaggerated for diagrams to make it clearer. For your drawing, the the difference between Aphelion and Perihelion would be no greater than the thickness of the line (assuming the line is thick enough to be visible).

No, that wouldn't work. Here's a pdf I made to try and explain it (230KB):  http://www.mediafire.com/?wc5ta4akzagudnj

[JOE SOAP]

Impressive.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

That's a clever wee scematic



Neptune's  orbital radius is 30.1 AU/4,515,000,000km, this will be the largest dimension in your picture.

The diameter of Mercury is 3005km, this is your smallest dimension.

S0 a ratio of roughly 1/1,500,000. If you made Mercury 1mm in diameter, Neptune's orbit would be about 1.5 km from the center of the page and would have to be drawn with a really, really, really, really tight spiral.Or not drawn to the same scale as the orbits.

Bear in mind, I've a few beer in me.

[The Legendary Shark]

If you wanted to do a scale image on an A4 page, the planets would have to be drawn with a really, really, really, really sharp pencil. Or not drawn to the same scale as the orbits.

You're right about the sharpness - I reckon it would be possible with a very thin line and a very dense spiral. No?

(I actually got the idea after watching a documentary about the London Underground Map.)

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Yeah I edited that after the fact there. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the mathematics of spirals. Unless they're the Fibonacci kind.

[The Legendary Shark]

I just emailed ESA with it. Should I have used a green font? lol

[Nap Normal]

This is a nice piece of software that let's you explore the solar system. At my age this is the closest I will get to exploring the the planets. On the bright side you can do it without leaving the comfort of your own home. 
http://www.solarsystemscope.com/

Bw
Nap

[TordelBack]

Very cleverly done, TLS.  I spent a good while looking through that, nice one.

[Matt Timson]

Wasn't Albert Einstein a lowly clerk in a patent office?










Thank you, Red Dwarf.

[Proudhuff]

Wasn't Albert Einstein a lowly clerk in a patent office?

yes, but with a great imagination

[TordelBack]

Wasn't Albert Einstein a lowly clerk in a patent office?

After graduating in physics and maths, and to support his family while working towards his doctorate in physics at the University of Zurich, having fled military service in Germany, yes indeed he was, but did his contribution to science at the time consist of posting on internet forums* and writing to the Daily Mail?  Or did it consist of (initially) the completion of his doctoral thesis, and the publication, in respected peer-reviewed scientific journals, of his theory of Special Relativity, the photoelectric effect, brownian motion etc. (all in the one year, BTW)?

Rather than complaining that the scientific establishment was conspiring to maintain the fiction of the luminiferous ether through debate, Einstein mathematically proved the damn thing was a needless nonsense, and he did it through traditional establishment channels and norms.  And did 'they' hush him up and suppress his work?  No.  Within three years he was a senior lecturer at the University of Zurich, and 3 years after that a full professor in Prague.

This is not the same thing as pulling bits of papers out of context and asserting the sky is (isn't?) falling, and no-one is listening to you because they're all in cahoots with big business and/or the goddamn hippies.





*I am absolutely NOT referring to TLS here, to be clear.  TLS is an intelligent and articulate gentleman, and a unbowed challenger of received orthodoxies, for all that I seldom agree with him.