Mercury Station – Planets Trail Nonnweiler Dam

𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐠The Planet Trail helps visitors to get an idea of the size of our solar system. The Sun, its nine major planets and their mean distance from the Sun are represented in 1:1 billion models. The planetary models are set up on the circular route along the dam, true to scale and at the appropriate distance. Beginning with the solar model, the visitor can explore the distances in the solar system up to Pluto. With an average step size, he moves through his cosmic home at about 4 times the speed of light. In order to reach the fixed star closest to the sun, Proxima Centauri, it would have to travel about 40,000 km in the same ratio, i.e. it would have to circle the earth completely once. In addition to the true-to-scale models of the planets, which are always located in the middle of the planetary stations, visitors are provided with some information about the respective planets through text panels and photos. The "earth model" can be rotated because the model of our moon is also located there. The suggestion for the construction of the planet path, the compilation of the information and the design of the planet stations came from a working group of the Birkenfeld high school. The planetary hiking trail was set up in 1996 by the Nonnweiler Dam Association and the Nonnweiler municipality. Source: text information board

𝘿𝙖𝙨 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢The solar system is our cosmic home. Our earth is just one of nine large planets that orbit the sun on circular ellipses. Arranged according to their mean distance from the sun, they are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. With the exception of Mercury and Venus, they are accompanied by one or more moons on their orbits. Thousands of minor planets or planetoids orbit our sun, mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The planetoids are lumps of rock without an atmosphere, with diameters ranging from a few tens of kilometers to 1000 kilometers. Unlike the large planets, they are not always spherical. Despite their large number, their total mass is probably less than the mass of our moon. Comets are also part of our solar system. They orbit the sun in highly elliptical orbits. The Sun, which is the center of our solar system and contains over 99.9% of the total mass of the solar system, is just one star among billions of stars in our Milky Way. The Milky Way does not rest either, but rotates around its center. The sun with the entire solar system takes part in this movement and needs about 240 million years at a speed of 220 kilometers per second for one orbit. The entire universe consists of many billions of such Milky Ways (galaxies), which are also not in fixed places. They move away from each other. Source: text information board

𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖓𝖊Equator diameter 1,392,500 km or 109 earth diameters or 3.6 times the distance earth-moon in the model: 1.39m.Mass: 333,000 Earth masses
Rotation period : 25 days (at the equator)
Components : hydrogen (73%) helium (25%) a.o.
Surface temperature: +5500 °C
Temperature inside approx. +15,000,000 °C
Distance to the nearest fixed star 4.3 light-years or 272,000 times the distance between Earth and the SunThe sun is the closest star to earth and the central body of our solar system. It is not a sharply defined celestial body, but a ball of gas in which the density, the pressure and the temperature decrease from the inside to the outside. Almost all of the energy we use on earth is produced by the sun. This does not happen through ordinary combustion, but through a nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium that takes place inside the sun. This energy is then radiated out into space at the sun's surface. However, the earth only receives about the billionth part of this - but this after about 8 minutes. Sunspots and huge gas eruptions (prominences) show that the sun is not an unchanging phenomenon, but that it is subject to powerful dynamic processes. Source: text information board𝕸𝖊𝖗𝖐𝖚𝖗Equator diameter: 4878 km (0.4 earth diameter) in the model 4.9mm
Distance from the sun: 46.0 million km to 69.8 million km. In the model : 58m
Rotation period : 58 days 16 hours
Mass : 0.055 Earth masses
Number of moons : - -
The atmosphere : - -
Surface structure : rocky landscape
Surface temperature : -170°C to +430°CThe planet has been known since ancient times. He is the closest to the sun. Planet and is therefore always close to the sun from our point of view. It can therefore only be observed on a few days a year near the horizon at dawn or dusk. But through the telescope you can only see the planet in the form of a sickle. Mercury shows similar light phases as our moon. The planet is much smaller than Earth, so it fits about 17 times into the globe. Because of its proximity to the sun and its small mass, gases evaporate on its surface, so it has no atmosphere worth mentioning. This in turn leads to large temperature fluctuations between day and night. Source: text information board