The planets and their moons (15 in total) will float in monoliths comprising a corten steel base crowned by an armoured glass cube. An explanatory poster will be next to each monolith and there will be a sign showing where the other elements of the model are. The monoliths will be fitted with internal illumination for night visits.

The miniatures of the planets and moons will be made using high quality 3D printing technology to reproduce all their details. Jupiter, the largest planet, will have a diameter of 48 centimetres.

You can visit or take a tour of the Solar System in several ways. The project is supported by the Association of Tourist Guides of Ciudad Rodrigo. In addition, four members of Astróbriga took part in a Starlight Foundation training course at the end of 2019 and are now recognised astronomy tour monitors. More members will be trained in 2020.

These resources facilitate the mixing and matching of different and complementary cultural and educational tourism activities, such as getting to know the historical heritage of Ciudad Rodrigo, the Fortification Tour or the palaeolithic site of Siega Verde (World Heritage Site), as well as daytime astronomical observations or night sky stargazing.

As outreach is important to us, we have a useful educational tool: people coming to see the elements of the system can use their smartphones to see the Solar System in augmented reality. Pointing the phone to an element, will show audiovisual information and animations on the screen, adding educational value to complement and add-value to the experience.

Education is one of the priority elements of the project. In fact, several teachers are actively engaged in the project. Within this framework, didactic tools are being developed for use in schools — tools relating astronomy to other disciplines such as physics, mathematics, plastic arts, biology, history, etc. Three educational centres in the region are officially supporting the project: Fray Diego Tadeo Secondary School, CEIP Miróbriga, and Las Batuecas Secondary School (La Alberca). Also, the Association of Tourist Guides of Ciudad Rodrigo will offer specific guided events for educational entities.

Astrotourism is growing in Spain and has the potential to provide new sources of income in the region. By the end of 2019, an estimated 800,000 people will have undertaken some form of astrotourism in Spain, that is, every year there are hundreds of thousands of tourists in Spain seeing the stars.

… and, precisely, the region of Ciudad Rodrigo has an excellent night sky for observing the heavens. If we preserve this feature and make it more widely known, we will have many elements in our hands to attract people interested in astronomy.

In fact, we are in contact with the Starlight Foundation, created by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and which, with another entity located in the United States, is the only institution that can certify the quality of the sky anywhere in the world. We are working with them and the city council of Ciudad Rodrigo to evaluate the possibility of certifying the region as a Star Park.

Outreach activities will be carried within the framework of this scale solar system project. Several astronomers have already been brought on board and have committed themselves to undertaking these outreach actions.

Astróbriga has the valuable support of Javier Rodriguez-Pacheco Martín, astrophysicist and professor at the University of Alcalá. Javier, who grew up in Ciudad Rodrigo, is the principal investigator of the energetic particle detector of the Solar Orbiter launched from Cape Canaveral on 10 February 2020. When he found out about our activities, Javier contacted us. He is now an active member, honorary chair of the association and sponsor of the project.