The solar system consists of one star, the Sun, and (in 2021) eight planets orbiting it, namely Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. To draw this solar system, you need to consider the size of the stars, their position, and their distance from the sun. It is a first step in understanding this so harmonious and so comprehensive system! To do this well we need to consider the size of the planets and their distance from the sun to get a reasonable idea of this set of planets.
steps
Method 1 of 2: Just draw the sun and its planets
Step 1. Draw the sun on the far left of the page
The Sun is a star, it is the heaviest and most voluminous star in the system. You will therefore represent it with a large circle, but leave space for the planets on the right. The sun is usually depicted in shades of yellow, red, and orange.
- The sun is a huge nuclear reactor that converts hydrogen into helium in a fusion process, releasing phenomenal amounts of heat in the process.
- This sun is drawn by hand using a round object or a compass.
Step 2. Track Mercury to the right of the Sun
Mercury is the smallest of all the planets in the solar system and also the closest to it. Since it's the smallest, you'll end up checking on your sketch to make sure it's actually the case. Mercury is strikingly grey.
Like Earth, Mercury is a rocky planet with an ever-molten heart
Step 3. Draw a larger circle for Venus
Venus is the closest star to the sun after Mercury, so draw it to the right of it. It is much larger than Mercury (2.5 times). It's white from here, but tends towards dark yellow up close.
Venus is beige tan in color with yellow undertones from a distance due to the sulfur dioxide clouds that envelop it. Without that special atmosphere, it's more of a light brown color when viewed up close
Step 4. Draw the Earth to the right of Venus
Earth and Venus are quite similar in size (Venus is 5% smaller in diameter than our planet). For our planet, you make a circle slightly larger than that of Venus. You know it: Make green and brown areas for the continents (⅓) and blue for the oceans (⅔). Optionally, you can leave areas free for the clouds.
One of the reasons there is life on Earth is that we are in the habitable zone of our star, neither too close to not experience too high temperatures nor too far to not be a frozen star, both Fell an uninhabitable star
Step 5. Draw the planet Mars
It is smaller than Earth (just over half) and farther from the sun. So it is larger than Mercury but smaller than Earth or Venus. The planet Mars has long lived up to its name: it is the red planet, rusty color. Also add a little bit of brown.
This red hue of Mars is due to iron oxides, actually rust! The Perseverance probe that "amarsi" in March 2021 will tell us more about the elements that make it up
Step 6. Draw the planet Jupiter
Located to the right of Mars, its diameter, eleven times that of Earth, is important as it is the largest planet in the system. It's a giant gas planet showing red, yellow, orange, and brown. Given the large diameter differences, you don't have to respect them, you'll just make planets that take that size difference into account.
Do you know ?
Jupiter's color varies over time. Terrible storms are raging there, unbeknownst to us, bringing materials of different colors to the surface.
Step 7. Draw the planet Saturn
It is the second largest planet after Jupiter, 9 times the size of Earth. To the right of Jupiter draw a circle smaller than for that last planet but larger than all the other planets. Saturn has bands in shades of brown, beige, yellow, and gray, as do the rings.
Of all the planets, it is the only one with little-known rings (of recent origin) made of frozen water (Cassini probe).
Step 8. Draw the planet Uranus
The third largest planet after Jupiter and Saturn is to the right of Saturn. It's four times the size of Earth, and according to the information Voyager II brought back, it's turquoise blue due to the ice it's made of.
Very original, it's solid, but its outer shell is made of frozen water, methane and ammonia. It appears to contain a solid core (iron) in the center
Step 9. Trace the planet Neptune
Continuing to the right, it is the eighth and final planet in the system. Pluto, once a planet, was declassified to become a dwarf planet like its sisters Ceres, Eris, Makemake, and Hauméa. Neptune is smaller than Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus but larger than all other planets. We've known since Voyager II that it's an absolutely incredible blue!
Neptune's atmosphere, composed mostly of methane, absorbs the red radiation and reflects the blue, hence the intense color of the planet
Step 10. Draw the orbits of the planets
Each planet revolves around the sun at greater or lesser speed in an elliptical orbit (orbit) that gets larger and larger the farther we get from the sun, which is easy to understand. To draw the orbits, take the model from the figure above, where the orbit is in the form of a curved line.
None of the orbits of the planets intersect, they are nested in a sense
Method 2 of 2: Place the planets in the correct distance
Step 1. Use Astronomical Unit (AU) as distance unit
This basic unit is the distance from the Earth to the Sun (about 150 million km), and any distance between the Sun and any of the planets can be expressed in AU. Here are the distances from the sun of each planet in astronomical units:
- Quecksilver: 0.39 AE
- Venus: 0.72 AE
- Erde: 1 PE
- March: AU 1.53
- Jupiter: 5,2 AE
- Saturn: 9,5 AE
- Uranus: 19.2 AE
- Neptune: 30,1 AE
Step 2. Scale your drawing
In order to better understand the distance of the planets, they need to be placed in the right places. You can use a scale of 1 cm for 1 AU, but nothing prevents you from using a scale of 0.5 cm for 1 AU. What determines your choice is the size of your sheet of paper. The larger it is, the more centimeters you use for 1 AU and vice versa.
Advice:
If you take an A3 sheet (42 x 29.7 cm), you can take the scale 1 cm = 1 AU, on A4 (21 x 29.7 cm) the scale is 1 cm for 2 AU.
Step 3. Calculate all distances
If you want a scaled system that accounts for distances to the sun, you'll need to convert all real-world distances on your sheet into lengths. Make this list on a draft: on the left a column with the names of the planets, then a second column with the actual distances, and in the third the scaled distances (in cm).
If you adopt the scale of 1 cm for 1 AU, you don't have to do any calculations, you place your planets at the distance in centimeters in AU. So Neptune is 30.1 AU from the Sun, in your drawing it will be... 30.1 cm
Step 4. Place your benchmarks
Before you draw the planets, place a ruler on your drawing with the 0 corresponding to the sun's surface. Make a point at each actual distance from each planet. You will center your planetary circles on these points.