Exploring the Hude Solar System (with Bonus Gothic Abbey Ruins)

The Easter weekend was rather gray and rainy (and marred by Sahara dust in the upper atmosphere), but Palm Sunday was a lovely sunny day, just perfect for a trip to the countryside. So I decided to use the opportunity to explore the Hude solar system.

You probably wonder, “What in the universe is the Hude solar system?”

Hude is a town of a little more than 16000 people halfway between Bremen and Oldenburg. It was first mentioned in 1232 AD as the site of a Cistercian Abbey, the ruins of which are still visible today and something of a local tourist attraction. You can see some pictures of the very spooky and gothic ruined abbey below the cut:

However, in addition to the ruined abbey, Hude also has another tourist attraction, namely a planet walk, i.e. a 1 billion:1 scale reproduction of our solar system. The Hude planet walk was created by an aerospace engineer and a teacher, both of whom were amateur astronomers, and opened in 1994. But even though I live only about 30 kilometres from Hude, I had no idea that the Hude planet walk existed until a few days ago, when I found it mentioned on a hiking website, while I was looking for something else. Upon learning that there was a planet walk so close to me (and it turns out that there are a few other planet walks in accessible distance, so stay tuned for further solar system explorations), I decided to visit it.

Though the Hude planet walk does not actually start in Hude proper, but in the nearby village of Wüsting. The walk is six kilometres from the sun to Pluto (yes, Pluto was still a planet, when the Hude planet walk was created), though I only walked from the sun to Jupiter and explored the outer solar system by car, for while a six kilometre walk is doable for me, walking six kilometres back is too much. Especially since there are only two rest areas where you can sit down on this six kilometre stretch.

In fact, if there was one thing to criticise about the Hude planet walk, it’s that it’s not very walkable, since a large part of it runs alongside the busy K222 road. There’s also no dedicated parking lot – I parked on the grounds of a car dealership that was closed for the weekend. And for some of the outer planets, I actually swerved onto unpaved agricultural service roads to park my car and take a picture. In retrospect, I’m glad that I went on a Sunday, because on a weekday I probably wouldn’t have been able to catch all of the planets due to traffic. Indeed, the Hude planet walk seems to be aimed mainly at cyclists, because there is a nice bike path along the K222. There also used to be bicycle tours of the Hude solar system led by one of the creators, though those stopped in 2015.

Overview and map of the Hude solar system

But enough of preliminaries, let’s take a look at the Hude solar system:

The Sun

The sun of the Hude solar system literally sits in the middle of a field between the K222 road and the Bremen-Oldenburg trainline.

There isn’t even a path that leads to the sun – I had to walk through the grass.

The sun has a diameter of 1.4 meters. It’s a fuel tank of an Ariane 4 rocket, donated by the Bremen aerospace company ERNO, now part of the Airbus Group. It does need a new coat of paint.

There also is a bronze plaque with information about the sun alongside the K222.

From the sun, our journey through the Hude solar system takes us to…

Mercury

Like all planets of the Hude solar system, Mercury is represented by a bronze plaque with some facts such as diameter, number of moons, distance to the sun, surface temperature and rotation period as well as a representation of the planet in a scale of 1:1 billion.

Mercury sits across the road from the sun, in between a brook called the Grummersorter Graben and a rest area, one of only two along the solar system route. And yes, there is a waste basket directly behind Mercury.

Here’s is a close-up look at the Mercury plaque. Due to the scale, the planet itself is a tiny speck.

From Mercury, we travel outwards to…

Venus

Venus sits at the edge of a small business park alongside the K222. The brook that we saw next to Mercury is visible behind Venus.

From Venus our journey through the solar system takes us home to…

Earth

Earth in the Hude solar system sits next to a birch and directly in front a supplier of dairy farm equipment.

Earth is the only planet in the Hude solar system that also includes its moon as a raised speck on the plaque. All others have the number of moons listed, but they’re not actually represented.

From Earth we travel outwards to…

Mars

In the Hude solar system, Mars sits directly in front of a gas station along the K222. In fact, the marker sits almost directly in front of the board that announces the fuel prices.

The gas station was closed on Sunday, which is why it looks so deserted.

As you can see, Mars is a tiny speck. Unlike Earth, the Mars marker doesn’t include the moons Phobos and Deimos, but then they are so tiny that depicting them would be nigh impossible.

From Mars, we travel onwards until we hit…

The Asteroid Belt

The Hude solar system does include a marker for the asteroid belt, which sits in front of a farmhouse along the K222. The blooming Japanese cherry tree reaching across the farmhouse fence was a nice bonus.

There are over two hundred thousand asteroids in asteroid belt. Listing all would require a huge marker, so this marker lists only the ten biggest asteroids. They don’t get a physical representation either, because they’re too small, just symbols. The asteroid belt marker is also the first to list the discovery dates, as do the ones for Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

Of course, the asteroid belt isn’t in a single handy location, but it’s an expanse (pun totally intended), so let’s take a look at what else you can see where the asteroid belt should be in the Hude solar system.

Here we have the brook known as the Grummersorter Graben again, which we also saw in the photos for Mercury and Venus. It runs alongside a street called Schottweg which leads to the village of Grummersort.

The K222 runs through farmland here and that’s where I met these friendly and very curious chickens, who live in the asteroid belt. I wonder if they speak Belter Creole.

Once we pass the asteroid belt, we get to…

Jupiter

In the Hude solar system, Jupiter sits alongside the K222, in front of a farm. The K222 gets lonely around here with farmland on both sides and little else, until it reaches Hude.

Since the K222 is a very straight road, you can still see the sun from Jupiter. By the time you reach Saturn, you no longer can.

As the biggest planet of our solar system, Jupiter is about the size of a football. Jupiter also doesn’t have any of its moons depicted, though the number of moons is given – as it was known in 1994. A lot more moons have been discovered since then.

From Jupiter, we travel further outwards through the loneliness of the outer solar system, as the sun retreats ever further into the distance. Finally, we reach…

Saturn

In the Hude solar system, Saturn is located in front of a barren field. However, Saturn is also located almost directly opposite a bus stop on K222 as well as near a side road which leads to the neighbouring village of Gummersort. You can see that road in the photo, where the row of trees is. Thus, parking to take the photo wasn’t an issue.

The marker for Saturn includes the planet’s iconic rings. As with Jupiter, it lists way too few moons.

And we travel onwards, through the deserted outer reaches of the Hude solar system, until we finally, at long last make it to…

Uranus

Uranus is truly the loneliest planet in the Hude solar system. It sits next to the K222 quite literally in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by barren fields with wind turbines on the horizon. I had to pull into an unpaved agricultural service road to park my car and take the picture.Even the base of the marker for Uranus looks somewhat overgrown. Once again, the number of the moons listed on the marker is no longer correct.

And onwards we travel through the outer solar system, leaving even the K222 behind, until we reach…

Neptune

I have to admit that I got lost in space on the way to Neptune, because I took a wrong turn at the end of the K222. Once I realised my mistake and turned my spaceship car around, I found myself entering a forest. And not just any forest either. No, this particular forest is a forest of rest, where people can be buried in the woods under trees, if they so choose.

Neptune is located at the intersection of two paths at the edge of this forest which is also a cemetery. It also intersects with another educational walk in the town of Hude, the geological history walk:

The marker also has the wrong number of moons.

Because Neptune is located at the edge of a peaceful forest, there is also a rest area – one of only two along the entire six kilometre route – next to Neptune. There are some benches and a picnic table, another information sign as well as five buckets, which are chained to an anchor in the ground.

So what’s the deal with those buckets? Well, there another hands-on way to teach people about our solar system, particularly about the way gravity varies on the different planets. The Earth bucket weighs ten kilograms, while the other buckets illustrate how much those ten kilograms would weigh on the Moon, Mars, Venus and Jupiter.

Here you see the Venus bucket:

After resting on Neptune and getting a practical science lesson, we travel yet further outwards, towards the very edge of our solar system, until we finally reach…

Pluto

The way to Pluto leads through the forest on a public, but unpaved road. Eventually, the forest gives way to Hude Golf Course, where you can see golfers trying to hit their balls. Golfing is clearly a popular sport in the far reaches of the solar system. You travel past the parking lot of the golf course until at last, you reach Pluto, sitting by the side of the road directly in front of a private house.

Pluto is just a tiny speck on the marker, but then Pluto is tiny. And yes, when the Hude solar system was set up, Pluto was still an official planet. The number of moons is no longer correct either.
So is the Hude solar system worth a visit?

If you’re in the area, I’d say yes, but then I enjoy this sort of thing.  It’s a bit far to walk, but perfect for bicycle tour. And yes, the information on the markers is somewhat dated, but then new astronomical discoveries are made all the time.

And while you’re there, visit the abbey and the abbey museum (if open) as well.

Since I learned that there are a few more planet walks in accessible distance – Metalhenge for one, but also Nordenham, Handeloh and Bensersiel – stay tuned for more explorations of the solar system.