Scales

VRML worlds are represented by shapes of different sizes. The VRML browser interprets the sizes as "meters". Therefore, when I use the term "VRML" below, I am talking about the number of "VRML meters" equal to the given distance.

Because of the enormous expanse of space, a single uniform scale would have been impossible to render, so different scales were used in the different VRML worlds. There is a separate scale for the "Local Group", and within the "VRML Solar System", there are three scales - one for planet size, another for planet distances and the third for time.

Local Group VRML World:

1 VRML = 100,000 light years (1 ly = 5,865,696,000,000 miles)

Solar System VRML World:

Due to the expanse of our solar system, distances between planets could not be proportional to planet size. Therefore, several different scales were employed to render the Solar System VRML World.

Intra-planet
Planet Size	1 VRML = 1,000 miles
Rotation (on axis)	0.1 second = 1 hour *
Inter-planet
Planet Distance (between planets) **	1 VRML = 100,000 miles
Orbit (around Sun)	0.001 second = 1 hour ***

* Note: All the planets, including the Sun, the Earth's moon and Mars' moons follow this scale. The other orbiting moons are on the same scale but since I didn't know their actual orbit times, I couldn't acurately generate their VRML scale times. All these excepted moons orbit at random speeds on the 0.1 second = 1 hour scale.

** Note: Distances between planets and their moons do not follow this scale because in some cases, this would cause moons to appear as if they were almost touching their parent planet.

*** Note: This time scale was needed to give you the appearance of motion. Following the 0.1 second = 1 hour scale would result in unnoticeably slow orbits.