NYC Grand Central Solar System Walk

☉ The Opal Clock, Grand Central Main Concourse

Starts at ☉ The Opal Clock, Grand Central Main Concourse. You'll get directions there, then scan the GO code on your card when you arrive.

The whole inner solar system fits inside one train station. Grand Central's opal clock is 30 inches across, and at that scale Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are all within a block of it — Earth and Mars one block apart. Then the gap opens: Jupiter at Bryant Park, and a mile and a half north up Fifth Avenue and into Central Park before Neptune. Under two miles on foot, and most of the walking happens in the empty part. Fully walkable in an afternoon — no transit required once you're at the clock.

8planets
1.96 miwalk
~1 hron foot
1 : 1,825,984,252scale
Sun Planet stop Scaled orbit Walk path

The Sun

☉ The Opal Clock, Grand Central Main Concourse

The four-faced opal clock atop the information booth at the centre of the Main Concourse — 30 inches across, and every other number on this walk follows from it. At 1 : 1.8 billion, the four rocky planets never leave Grand Central and the block around it. Everything after Mars is a walk north.

Diameter 2 ft 6 in (76.2 cm) — the anchor that sets the scale for the whole system.

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The route

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