Discover the planets and learn about the night sky as you walk through beautiful East Lothian with this new walkable and wheelable scale model of our Solar System at Dirleton Solar Walk.
Starting in Dirleton village, you’ll set off from the Sun and journey through the Solar System, reaching Neptune at Archerfield Walled Garden in about 30 minutes. Not bad for a “Grand Tour”! It’s an ideal day out for curious minds of all ages, providing a fun and educational way to experience the vast distances between the planets.
The Dirleton Solar Walk has been designed and built with help from the children of Dirleton Primary School and some leading Scottish Universities. You can see just how far apart the planets are – but at a 1:3.6 billion scale. With every step you are walking millions of kilometers through space.
You can find information on the Dirleton Solar Walk website about how to get to there and how to use it. You can also see more about each planet on the Planets page.
Start at either end of the walk, but for the best experience, kick off from Dirleton village where the Sun—the heart of our Solar System—is located. You’ll find the other planet installations mounted on fenceposts along the walk and hopefully you’ll get a feeling for the scale of space and just how far away the planets really are. QR tags on each post will also provide you with more information about each planet as you reach it and there are some amazing augemented reality features too with 3D recreations of the planets. You’ll also find information panels at each end of the walk.
The Astronomical Society of Edinburgh are delighted to support and promote Dirleton Solar Walk as a fantastic way of sharing the wonders of our Universe with as many people of all ages as possible – something we are passionate about.
Mark Phillips, President