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TAKE A DRIVING TOUR OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Did you know Maine has a solar system, our solar system, complete with Pluto, which isn’t even considered a planet anymore? It’s not a real solar system, of course, but it is the largest three-dimensional scale model of the solar system in the world. Even at a 1:93,000,000 scale, the model stretches for 40 miles along Route 1 between Houlton and Presque Isle.

Pluto is a mere 1 inch in diameter and can be found inside the Houlton Information Center at the end of Interstate 95. Its moon (yep, even the moons are included) Charon is a half-inch in diameter and sits about 8 inches from Pluto. Traveling north on Route 1 toward Presque Isle, keep your eyes peeled for the other planets. Jupiter and Saturn are each a couple feet in diameter and are mounted on posts beside the road. Little old Earth is the size of a golf ball and is mounted on a post at Percy’s Auto Sales, only a mile from the sun. And the sun, even at this small scale, is 50 feet in diameter. Arc sections are mounted in the halls of the Northern Maine Museum of Science.

HELPFUL SITE

• pages.umpi.edu/nmms/solar/