The enormous ratio of interplanetary distances to planetary diameters makes constructing a scale model of the Solar System a challenging task.
If the smaller planets are to be easily visible to the naked eye, large outdoor spaces are generally necessary, as is some means for highlighting objects that might otherwise not be noticed from a distance.
The Boston Museum of Science had placed bronze models of the planets in major public buildings, all on similar stands with interpretive labels.
Traditional orreries often did move, and some used clockworks to display the relative speeds of objects accurately.
Brussells, Belgium An Exploration of Scale National Mall, Washington, D.C. (2001) Kansas City, Missouri (2008)Space Center Houston, Texas (2008) Corpus Christi, Texas (2009)Boulder, Colorado (2021) Palo Alto, California (2022)[49][50] Broken Arrow, Oklahoma (2022) Ocala, Florida (2022) Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana (2022) Dover, New Hampshire (2023) Spokane, Washington (2022) Memphis, Tennessee (2023) Chalmette, Louisiana (2023) Jonesboro, Arkansas (2023) Troy, New York (2024) Several sets of geocaching caches have been laid out as Solar System models.