Jodrell Bank

Uncle Jim and I went to Jodrell Bank in both 2006 [pictured with me above] and 1999 [pictured with Jim below].
Now, onto the revelation about the spaced out program, which is designed to be the largest scale model of the solar system [the other planets are scattered around the UK [Pluto is in Aberdeen, for example]]. Below, the sculpture that represents the Sun, confused Jim a little. He wanted to know what represented the size of the Sun in the model. The attendant at the museum / gift shop assured us that the model only represented the distance between the planets. However, this didn't satisfy Jim, and he went about thinking how the size of the Sun related to the distance from Earth, which was located in Macclesfield.

After some reflection, and measuring [Jim knows the diameter of the Sun, and the distance to Earth off the top of his head], Jim concluded that in this model, the size of the Sun could actually be represented by the diameter of the rail track that the Jodrell Bank telescope sits on. Jim also assured me that no checking of his calculation was needed, but I thought I'd do that via google maps, and make sure that they didn't mention this on the website before publishing it here.

As you can see from the photo below, it makes a much more impressive Sun than the sculpture.

I have a google map link to demonstrate the relationship between Jodrell Bank and Macclesfield if you would like to do your own calculation... here. If you go to satellite mode, you can actually see the telescope quite clearly...