Sagan Planet Walk

Enjoy the Carl Sagan Planet Walk, narrated by Bill Nye the Science Guy!

Sagan Planet Walk

Ithaca, New York 14850, United States

Created By: Downtown Ithaca Alliance

Tour Information

The 1 mile Sagan Planet Walk is a model of our Solar System at one five-billionth (1/5,000,000,000) of the actual size. Starting with the Sun on the Commons in downtown Ithaca, this 3/4 mile (1200 meter) walking tour leads to the Sciencenter. Both the size of the planets and the distance between them are accurately scaled and displayed. Some of the inner planets are currently missing because of the Ithaca Commons construction but will be re-installed soon!

Listen to a free audio tour (narrated by Bill Nye the Science Guy!) by phone at 1-703-637-6237 or download the tour as a podcast from iTunes or visit www.sciencenter.org/saganpw


Tour Map

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What You'll See on the Tour

The walk begins here: The Sun Obelisk at Center Ithaca. The Mercury Obelisk can be seen in the background.​ The obelisk for the Sun is located in the center of the Ithaca Commons, a pedestrian shopping area in the heart of downtown Ithac... Read more
The Inner Planets The obelisks for the four inner planets are all contained within the commons area stretching north towards Seneca Street. Mercury is situated to scale about 10 yards (9.1 meters) away from the sun
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Venus another 10 yards (9.1 meters) away, and the same distance again for Earth and Mars. This keeps the four inner planets within eyesight of the Sun, yet the representations of each planet appear quite small within their glass windows, an... Read more
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Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are 10 yards (9.1 meters) away from the sun. This keeps the four inner planets within eyesight of the Sun, yet the representations of each planet appear quite small within their glass windows, and can even... Read more
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Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are 10 yards (9.1 meters) away from the sun. This keeps the four inner planets within eyesight of the Sun, yet the representations of each planet appear quite small within their glass windows, and can even... Read more
The Asteroid Belt Once leaving the inner planets, a visitor to the Planet Walk turns west along Seneca Street to continue towards Jupiter. Between Mars and Jupiter lies the asteroid belt. The obelisk representing the asteroid belt was added... Read more
Jupiter's obelisk sits at the corner of Seneca and Cayuga streets, outside the downtown Dewitt Mall, and not far from the famed Moosewood Restaurant. The model of Jupiter within the glass window is the first planet representation easily vi... Read more
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To reach Saturn, visitors turn north and continue along Cayuga street. At the corner of Cayuga and Court street, Saturn's obelisk sits outside the former location of the Tompkins County Public Library. The rings of Saturn are clearly visib... Read more
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Visitors continue northward along Cayuga street from Saturn, reaching the obelisk for Uranus just across Cascadilla Creek at the entrance to Thompson Park.
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From Uranus, visitors follow Willow Avenue northwest and cross the Carl Sagan bridge at Adams street to reach Neptune. The Carl Sagan bridge was built in 2000, and features nine circular windows adorned with the signs of the nine planets.[5... Read more
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As the Planet Walk was conceived and built prior to Pluto losing its planetary status in 2006, the model includes an obelisk for Pluto as well as the eight official planets. Pluto's obelisk is located just outside the Ithaca Sciencenter on ... Read more

 

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