So Overstreet and his partner, Alex Gorosh, decided to build a model that would accurately represent what the solar system actually looks like.

Starting with an Earth the size of a marble, these folks built a full-scale model of our solar system across 7 miles of Nevada desert.

First to-scale Solar System model built in seven miles of desert All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors.

Their first project, To Scale: The Solar System, spanned seven miles in a dry lakebed in the Nevada desert in 2015.

Those proportions are kept honest in the scale model, in which an Earth that's only the size of a small marble calls for a solar system that's 7 miles wide.

Getting solar panels professionally installed can be expensive. If you're on a budget, here's how you can make your own.

If you create this model, the Earth and Sun should be about 23 metres apart. If you wanted to walk to the edge of the solar system (where the planet Neptune would be) you would have to walk thirty ...