From: Sheldon Schafer <sls@bradley.bradley.edu>
Subject: INTERPLANETARY BICYCLE RIDE
INTERPLANETARY BICYCLE RIDE
The longest and fastest bicycle ride in the Solar System
JULY 15 & 16, 1995
Peoria, Illinois
Sponsored by: Illinois Valley Wheelm'n, Lakeview Museum of Arts &
Sciences, Peoria Astronomical Society, Peoria Academy of Sciences
Follow the orbits of planetary explorers through the "Worlds Largest
Model of the Solar System".
What is the Community Solar System? Lakeview Museum's Community Solar
System is a model of the sun and nine planets, where size and distance
are represented on the same scale. While models of the solar system may
be common, virtually all of these either show only relative sizes or
relative distances to the same scale if any attempt is made at all to be
accurate. (Frequently such models only show the relative order of the
planets from the sun). In any case, the impression is created that our
solar system is much smaller and the planets much closer than they
actually are, and a correct understanding of the vastness of space is
totally lost. Since the space between the planets is enormous relative
to the sizes of the planets, few models exist in the world which show
the true scale of our solar system, since they would need to be miles
across. The purpose of this project was to create a real physical
model (spread across 60 miles of Central Illinois), true to scale, with
true three dimensional models of each of the planets of our solar
system. In addition to the planets, there are over 80 Unnamed Comets of
the Kuiper Bellt located throughout the World, including Germany,
Denmark, Norway, Russia, Japan, Ecuador, Chile, and Antarctica.
The model is recognized as the world's largest with entries in the 1993
and 1994 and 1995 editions of The Guinness Book of Records. For more
information and photographs, see the July, 1993 issue of Sky and
Telescope (page 99-100) or the March 1995 issue of Discover Magazine
(page 42-45).
A RIDE FOR EVERY LEVEL
Depending on your planetary destination, there are options for every
member of your family, for riders of all ages and abilities.
For Example:
Jupiter - Saturn - Jupiter (Rock Island Trail) 1.4 Billion miles (10 mi.)
Jupiter - Uranus - Jupiter (Rock Island Trail) 3.6 Billion miles (25 mi.)
Jupiter - Neptune - Jupiter (Rock Island Trail) 6.4 Billion miles (45 mi.)
Sun - Pluto - Sun (City, Trail, County roads) 13.0 Billion miles (90 mi.)
Sun-Mercury-Venus-Earth-Mars-Jupiter-Saturn-Sun
Sunday Morning Ride(City streets) 3.9 Billion miles (27 mi)
Century option into the Kuiper Comet Belt 14.0 Billion miles (100mi)
For a registration form (early fee $14/rider, $35/family), please send
a stamped, self addressed envelope to:
Interplanetary Bicycle Ride
Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences
1125 West Lake Avenue
Peoria, Il 61614 - 5985
or E-mail to sls@bradley.bradley.edu
REPRINTED FROM ASTRONET, ISSUE 13.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT resource@rahul.net.
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- T o d d E. V a n H o o s e a r -
``'''vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu - vanhoose@msu.edu - vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu
(._.) Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI USA
(_) Computer Laboratory - Department of Communication
`---' <A HREF="http://lalaland.cl.msu.edu/~vanhoose/">My Home Page</A>
"Error, no keyboard - press F1 to continue."
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