Former NASA scientist Mark Rober was amazed by recent news that an unseen ninth planet is orbiting the sun.
The planet can only be inferred to exist from mathematical evidence. But, scientists say, it's there, orbiting the sun every 15,000 years or so.
This inspired Rober to demonstrate just how far away the ninth planet would be. So he went to a soccer field.
On the first yard line of the soccer field, he placed a soccer ball. That was to be the scale of our sun.
On the 10th yard line, he placed a fleck of pepper. That's mercury.
19th yard line: Venus, the size of a round pin head.
26th yard line: Earth, the size of a pinhead, orbited by a grain of salt (the moon).
40th yard line: Mars, a fleck of pepper.
135 yards away from the sun and out of the football field: Jupiter, a grape.
2.5 football fields away: Saturn, a smaller grape.
5 football fields away: Uranus, a pea.
8 football fields away: Neptune, a pea.
And finally, the elusive and mysterious planet 9. Pea size. To travel to it from the soccer sun on the first yard line, you must walk for about five and a half hours to make the 17.5 mile distance. That is 309 football fields away, if you're counting.
