If the Sun were a basketball, where would the planets be? Drag to explore. Scroll to zoom.
On this scale model, the Sun is a basketball (24 cm wide). Mercury is a peppercorn 10 meters away. Earth is a pea 26 meters away. Jupiter is a grape 135 meters away. Neptune is a marble 750 meters away.
The nearest star, Alpha Centauri? On this scale, it would be on the other side of the planet. The Solar System is not crowded. It is a basketball, some tiny crumbs, and then — nothing — for a very, very long way.