Easter Eggs · Core Systems
The Basketball Solar System
▶ Explore this system live in the app
If the Sun were the size of a basketball, how far away would Earth be?
It's one of the most-asked questions in science education. NASA outreach programs, planetariums, and classroom teachers have used a basketball-sized Sun for decades, because it turns an abstract number (149.6 million km) into something you can actually hold. This preset runs the real math on that exact question, live and interactively.
A regulation 24cm basketball shrinks the Sun by a factor of roughly 1 : 5.8 billion. Apply that same ratio to every planet's true diameter and orbital distance, and the answers get concrete fast: Earth becomes a golf ball's dimple sitting about 26 meters away. Jupiter becomes a ping-pong ball 134 meters out. Neptune, the most distant planet, ends up nearly half a mile from the basketball in your hand.
Every object here is a real sports or hobby item, sized and spaced using the solar system's true relative proportions. The live distance readout is recalibrated to basketball-scale meters instead of raw kilometers, so scrolling or warping to any object shows exactly how far it would actually sit from your hand at this scale. And if you're feeling hungry, that's what the Edible Solar System is for.
Celestial Bodies (12)
Sun (The Basketball)
star · system center · 1,391,000 km diameter
Regulation Size 1 : 5.8 Billion
A regulation 24cm basketball resting in your palm — rendered here at the same size the real Sun takes up on screen. Every distance below is shown to scale, in sports terms.
Mercury (Leather Pebble Grain)
planet · orbits Sun (The Basketball) · 57,900,000 km · 4,879 km diameter
Leather 10m Away
A single raised pebble grain from the basketball's own leather texture. It orbits about 10 meters from the ball — roughly the length of a school bus.
Venus (Width of a Baseball Stitch)
planet · orbits Sun (The Basketball) · 108,200,000 km · 12,104 km diameter
Stitching 19m Away
The width of a single red stitch on a baseball, sitting 18.7 meters out, nearly the exact distance from a pitcher's mound to home plate.
Earth (Golf Ball Dimple)
planet · orbits Sun (The Basketball) · 149,597,870 km · 12,742 km diameter
Dimple 26m Away
A single dimple pressed into a golf ball. It's about 26 meters from the basketball, nearly the length of the court, baseline to baseline.
The Moon (Grain of Bunker Sand)
moon · orbits Earth (Golf Ball Dimple) · 384,400 km · 3,474 km diameter
A single grain of sand from a golf course bunker, barely 6.6 centimeters from the dimple.
Mars (Pellet of Turf Infill)
planet · orbits Sun (The Basketball) · 227,900,000 km · 6,779 km diameter
Rubber Crumb 39m Away
A single crumb of rubber turf infill, about 39 meters out — roughly three school buses end to end.
Asteroid Belt (Chalk & Rosin Dust)
region · orbits Sun (The Basketball) · 329,000,000 km–478,000,000 km
Chalk 57-82m Out
A faint haze of athletic chalk and rosin dust between 57 and 82 meters out.
Jupiter (Ping-Pong Ball)
planet, gas-giant · orbits Sun (The Basketball) · 778,500,000 km · 139,820 km diameter
Celluloid 134m Away
A bright orange table-tennis ball, about 134 meters away — roughly the length of a football field, end zones included.
Saturn (Paintball)
planet, gas-giant · orbits Sun (The Basketball) · 1,434,000,000 km · 116,460 km diameter
Gelatin Shell 247m Away
A paintball with a thin ring of splattered paint around its equator, sitting 247 meters out — roughly two and a half football fields away.
Uranus (Cat's-Eye Marble)
planet, gas-giant · orbits Sun (The Basketball) · 2,871,000,000 km · 50,724 km diameter
Glass 495m Away
A glass cat's-eye marble, about 495 meters from the basketball — nearly five football fields away.
Neptune (Steelie Marble)
planet, gas-giant · orbits Sun (The Basketball) · 4,495,000,000 km · 49,244 km diameter
Steel 776m Away
A solid "steelie" marble, about 776 meters away — nearly half a mile from the basketball.
Pluto (Speck of Athletic Chalk)
planet · orbits Sun (The Basketball) · 5,906,000,000 km · 2,376 km diameter
Chalk 1.02km Away
A single speck of magnesium-carbonate grip chalk, just over a kilometer from the basketball.