- 1:20 h
- 4.87 km
- 83 m
- 62 m
- 237 m
- 320 m
- 83 m
- Start: At the sun, Heltauer Platz
- Destination: Harz Planetarium
During a walk along the approximately 5 kilometer long Planet Trail, you get a fascinating insight into the world of our solar system and its vast dimensions. The astronomical tour begins with the sun at Heltauer Platz, represented here as a 1.40 m high model. Along the way, you explore eight granite columns which represent the planets at a scale of 1:1 billion. The columns are distributed throughout the city so that they correspond to the distances of the respective celestial bodies from the sun at the same scale. The Planet Trail finally ends at the Harz Planetarium, which invites you to visit.
Good to know
Pavements
Best to visit
Directions
- Sun: Only 700 meters from Wernigerode train station begins the hike along the Planet Trail. The starting point of the 5 km long path is the model of the sun directly at Heltauer Platz. All 8 planets are represented at a scale of 1:1 billion.
- Mercury: Only 58 meters from the sun is Mercury at the beginning of Gustav-Petri-Strasse. The planet has an original diameter of 4,878 km and takes 88 days to orbit the sun.
- Venus: Further towards the city center, opposite the Adolf-Diesterweg Elementary School, you come to Venus, which is originally 108,000,000 km from the sun.
- Earth: With Earth, we are at the last planet on Gustav-Petri-Strasse. Our blue planet has a diameter of 12,756 km and is 149,600,000 km from the sun.
- Mars: The next station on the Planet Trail is the red planet Mars. Passing by the elementary school and the gym of the Thomas-Müntzer Secondary School, you find the model of the planet, which has an original diameter of 6,792 km and takes 687 days to orbit the sun.
- Jupiter: On the way to the next station, you will see the Westerntor station of the Harz narrow-gauge railway. Directly in front of the local cinema you will find the planet Jupiter with a view of the Karl Marx monument. The 5th planet on the hike is the largest planet in our solar system with a diameter of 142,948 km and takes 11.9 years to orbit the sun.
- Saturn: The next planet on the hike is Saturn at the promenade. Directly by the water is the model of the planet, which is surrounded by rings of ice and rock fragments. The original is 1,427,000,000 km from the sun and has an orbital period of 29.4 years.
- Uranus: The seventh planet is reached by continuing along Bohlweg to Christianental. At the entrance to the zoo, directly next to the duck pond, is the model of the planet Uranus, which has a diameter of 51,800 km.
- Neptune: Past Wernigerode Castle, the hike continues to the last planet of our solar system. Neptune is only a minute from Löwentor, the entrance to the Lustgarten. The planet is the farthest from the sun at 4,498,000,000 km.
- End of the Planet Trail: Through the Lustgarten and a little further, the end of the Planet Trail is reached at the Harz Planetarium. At www.harzplanetarium.de you can find information about current shows and thus combine the hike with a subsequent lecture about our night sky.
Directions & Parking facilities
Coming from the north via the A36 and the B244
Coming from the south via the B24 and the B244
Nearby parking lot "Unter den Zindeln".
Additional information
Marktplatz 10
38855 Wernigerode
Tel. 03943 - 55 378 35
info@wernigerode-tourismus.de
www.wernigerode-tourismus.de
Author
Harzer Tourismusverband
Organization
Harz: Magische Gebirgswelt
License (master data)
Map
Flyer available at the Wernigerode Tourist Information
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