Top section of the marker:
Saturn
This is the planet Saturn and 4 of its largest moons at one 10-billionth actual size.
If Saturn were this big, how far away would the Sun and other planets be? Look at the map on the lower map to find your position in the solar system.
Bottom section of the marker:
Voyage to Saturn
In all the solar system, there is no sight like Saturn. Its stunning system of rings cast bands of shadows across the planet's cloudy face, while the rings themselves vanish into Saturn's night side. The ring system is wider than 20 Earths placed side-by-side but only as thick as a football field is long.
Rings of Countless Moons
What appears from Earth to be a few board rings really consists of thousands of individual "ringlets." They contain countless icy particles, most the size of dust grains but many as big as houses, each orbiting Saturn like a tiny moon.
Titan: A Moon with an Atmosphere
Saturn's largest moon, Titan has an atmosphere thicker than Earth's. Hidden beneath thick "smog" are frigid seas, lakes, and rivers of liquid ethane and methane, and windswept sand dunes rivaling Earth's Sahara Desert. Titan today may look like Earth did more than a billion years ago.
Walk
to Uranus about 216 steps
Imagine
Saturn and its rings would just fit in the space between the Earth and its Moon.
Walk to Jupiter about 98 steps
In the real solar system, the planets never line up as they orbit the sun.
Voyage is an exhibition of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and the Smithsonian Institution. It is designed for permanent installation in communities worldwide.
http://voyagesolarsystem.org
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