So Overstreet and his partner, Alex Gorosh, decided to build a model that would accurately represent what the solar system actually looks like.

Starting with an Earth the size of a marble, these folks built a full-scale model of our solar system across 7 miles of Nevada desert.

First to-scale Solar System model built in seven miles of desert All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors.

Those proportions are kept honest in the scale model, in which an Earth that's only the size of a small marble calls for a solar system that's 7 miles wide.

If you've ever gazed at a model of the solar system, you've likely noticed that the sun, planets, moons and asteroids sit roughly on the same plane. But why is that?