TDA’s SCALE MODEL of the SOLAR SYSTEM PROJECT!

Students at Three Dragons Academy built a Solar System Scale Model as an All-Academy project in January 2024! This Event starts February 12 and ends around the beginning of April!

Each month, TDA features a different theme, and in January it was “Out of this World”: All month, we learned about the planets, practiced & honed our painting skills, and then made scale-size planets on large A-boards! Additionally, our students in the K-8 arts enrichment program worked with artist-educators to figure the scale size of the orbits, and then we placed the planet paintings at their appropriate & scientifically accurate distances. Finally, the students have made a public chalk-art drawing of the Sun (18-&-a-half-foot wide) that serves as the center of this model!

How to tour the model:

Fuel up your spacecraft and choose a route through the planets using our map & list of Art Installation sites. You might start at Neptune or Pluto (or even as far out as the dwarf-planet Eris!) and work your way inward to the Sun! Or, lift-off from your home and go from the nearest to farthest site!

Make sure to pack water & snacks, and plan breaks - especially for little ones! Then, commute, bike or drive to the next planet on your list! Or: travel to just your favorite planet! Example: visit all 5 Jupiters!

Our student-artists love to know when people are trying out the model or when someone discovers one of their planets!! Take a photo of your find and post it online; w/ #TDASolarSystem or email and share with us at ThreeDragonsOnline@gmail.com

 

ARTISTIC SCALE-SIZE PLANEtS

All the planet sizes are based off of our sidewalk art 18.5 foot ‘Sun’ here at Three Dragons Academy! (104 West Roy Street, Seattle)

Then, we figured out the scale sizes of each of the planets. For some examples: Earth ends up being about 2 inches diameter; Jupiter clocks in at almost 23 inches wide; while Neptune is slightly over 8 inches wide; and little Pluto is barely more than a 1/4 inch in diameter!

Each A-board features two sides, each with different art - so the two-county model features almost 60 works of art! Students made repeats of several fun-to-paint planets, like Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. While we did plenty of planet research of gorgeous NASA photos, some students also took the challenge to make artistic interpretations - including planets painted in styles inspired by Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawerence, Van Gogh, Mondrian, Da Vinci, as well as their own remarkable styles!

REAL SCALE-SIZED ORBITS

These scale model planets are additionally placed at the true scale distance from their model Sun, located at 104 West Roy Street (in the Uptown neighborhood of Seattle)!

It turns out, in this scale, the Space Needle marks a moment in Mars’ orbit, while dwarf-planet Eris is as far out as the town of Snoqualmie!

Other orbits: Saturn’s orbit is the width of Seattle, and Uranus is the North-South height of the city. Neptune’s route makes a circle touching Redmond on one side, and East Bremerton on the other! And for Pluto, we have installation sites at the Edmonds PCC and in the middle of Maple Valley Highway; both of which are on near opposite sides of Pluto’s massive 248 Earth-year-long orbit around the Sun.

Some orbits have multiple sites/several planets installed along them, such as Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Pluto.

 

LOCATION LIST of the Painted Planet boards (Outer Half of the Solar System):

Use this list to chart your command vehicle’s course through our Solar System, or to just hunt down your favorite planet! Each installation station has two sides of art!

Eris: (Dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt / beyond Pluto): Historic downtown of Snoqualmie, at a metro bus stop just south of River St (ample parking).

Pluto 1: Sammamish Plateau at 228th & Pine Lake Road; Southbound metro bus stop.

Pluto 2: Maple Valley Highway @ 154th Place/152nd Ave SE - near the Starbucks & Mexicuban Restaurant. (History Buffs: Former site of the Aqua Barn)

Pluto 3: Edmonds/Westgate PCC (Edmonds Way & 100th Ave W)

Neptune 1: Bothell Landing intersection (Bothell Way NE & Highway SR 522)

Neptune 2: TBD

Uranus 1: Mercer Island at Island Crest Way & SE 40th St / Across the street from Clise Park.

Uranus 2: South Seattle at the Othello Street Light Rail Station / Corner of MLK Jr Way S & S Othello Street -near the Bank & Safeway

Uranus 3: West Seattle at Lincoln Park & the Fauntleroy Ferry line - near the crosswalk at Cloverdale St

Uranus 4: Lake City Way (between 125th and 127th, in the middle island of the flashing-light crosswalk / at Brother Barrel)

Saturn 1: West Seattle at Alki Beach bike/jogging trail- across the street from BlueMoon Burgers.

Saturn 2: Seattle Beacon Hill at the North Beacon Hill Light Rail Station (16th Ave S & S Lander St) - right where riders exit the elevators.

Saturn 3: Pending

Saturn 4: SE corner of U Village* Metro stop (on NE 45th Street, between the Burgermaster & T-Mobile). *=home to the 2nd-Oldest Starbucks!

Saturn 5: Pending

Saturn 6: Phinney Ridge at RedMill/PNA (in front of the Phinney Community Center).

Saturn 7: SW corner of Ballard High School (Metro stop at the corner of 15th Ave NW & NW 65th St, near Top Banana).

MAP of OUTER HALF of the SOLAR SYSTEM MODEL:

LOCATION LIST of PLANETS, continued… (Inner Half of Solar System):

Jupiter 1: Pending

Jupiter 2: between 12th Ave ARTS & the SPD East Precinct (12th Ave E & E Pine St).

Jupiter 3: Pending

Jupiter 4: At the five-way Fremont intersection at BF Day School (Fremont Ave N + N 39th St + Fremont Way N)

Jupiter 5: South of the Ballard Bridge / La Palma (15th Ave W & W Ruffner St).

Ceres 1: Denny Park (Corner of 9th Ave N & Denny Way: also; Seattle’s Oldest Park!)

Ceres 2: Pending

Mars: Across from the Pacific Science Center South Doors (Corner of Denny Way & Broad St)

Earth: In front of the Seattle Opera (Mercer St, between 3rd and 4th Ave N)

Venus 1: TBD

Venus 2: The corner of Queen Anne Ave & W Prospect St

Mercury: QA/Uptown Met Market: Near the Corner of Mercer St and First Ave N

The Sun (unique): Sidewalk Chalk Art just in front of Three Dragons Academy & On The Boards performing arts center, at 104 West Roy Street in the Uptown neighborhood.

MAP of INNER HALF of SOLAR SYSTEM PLANETS:

Solar system science is fun: Want to learn more?