'Powers of Ten' websites list

'Powers of Ten': a famous movie made in 1977 by Charles and Ray Eames (IBM), with english commentary: just put "Powers of ten" in http://video.google.com/, or in http://www.youtube.com.

http://csaweb.yonsei.ac.kr/~rhee/2000/universe/power10.html: Korean webpage with clickable images from "Powers of Ten, the movie by Charles & Ray Eames (IBM)", which is (your browser needs Korean Text Encoding) "10ÀÇ Á¦°ö¼öµé: ÇÊ¸³°ú ÇÊ¸®½º ¸ð¸®½º ÁöÀ½, ¹ÎÀ½»ç (ºñµð¿À)" in korean, in case you're lost...

http://www.wordwizz.com/pwrsof10.htm: more modern version of the 'Powers of Ten', no animation: skip from -3 to +3 on a log. scale, viewing a series of pictures centered on a flower. (Copyright ƒ 2005-07 by Bruce Bryson)

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/: nice java animation, also manually clickable. (Copyright ƒ 1995-2007 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University)

Some important numbers

Distance Earth-Moon	380'000 km	≈ 1 light-sec
Distance Earth-Sun	150 · 10⁶ km	≈ 10 light-min	Orbital Semimajor Axis = 1.0 AU
Distance Earth-Saturn	1.2 · 10⁹ km (minimum distance)	≈ 1 light-hour	Orbital Semimajor Axis = 9.5 AU
Distance Earth-Pluto	4.3 · 10⁹ km (minimum distance)	≈ 4 light-hours	Orbital Semimajor Axis = 40 AU
Distance to the nearest star (Proxima Centauri)	4 · 10¹³ km	4.3 light-years (1.3 pc)	270'000 times the distance Earth-Sun
Distance Earth-Galactic centre	2.5 · 10¹⁷ km	26'000 light-years (8 kpc)
Diameter of the Milky Way Disk	9.46 · 10¹⁷ km	≈ 100'000 light-years (30 kpc)
Distance to the Andromeda Galaxy (M31)	2.46 · 10¹⁹ km	2.6 · 10⁶ light-years (810 kpc)
Distance to the Virgo Cluster	5.3 · 10²⁰ km	60 · 10⁶ light-years (18 Mpc)
Diameter of the known universe	1-1.5 · 10²³ km	10-15 · 10⁹ light-years

Astronomical distances are often expressed in the time it takes the light, travelling at 300'000 km/sec, to cover them:

1 light-hour = 1.08 · 10⁹ km
1 light-day = 2.6 · 10¹⁰ km
1 light-month = 7.8 · 10¹¹ km
1 light-year = 9.46 · 10¹² km

The parsec (symbol pc) is a unit of length used in astronomy. The length of the parsec is based on the method of trigonometric parallax, one of the oldest methods for measuring the distances to stars. The name parsec stands for "parallax of one second of arc", and one parsec is defined to be the distance from the Earth to a star that has a parallax of 1 arcsecond (= 1/3600 degree), see the figure below. Conversion: 1 parsec = 3.26 light-year = 3.086 · 10¹³ km (1 Mpc = 10³ kpc = 10⁶ pc).

Credit: Wikipedia.

The solar system: relative sizes

Credit: Solar system Lithograph Set, NASA

Source: http://www.rense.com/general72/size.htm