Comparative planetary science closest analogue is the Pluto-Charon system, though its axial tilt is completely different. Both our Moon and Charon are hypothesized to have formed via giant impacts. Giant impacts are hypothesized to account for both the tilt of Uranus, and the retrograde rotation of Venus. Giant impacts are also candidates for the Mars ocean hypothesis, and the high density of Mercury. Most giant planets (except Neptune) have retinues of moons, rings, ring shepherds, and moon Trojans analogous to mini-solar systems. These systems are postulated to have accreted from analogous gas clouds, and possibly with analogous migrations during their formation periods. The
Solar System model Solar System model Solar System models, especially mechanical models, called "orreries", that illustrate the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the Solar System have been built for centuries. While they often showed relative sizes, these models were usually not built to scale. The enormous ratio of interplanetary distances to planetary diameters makes constructing a scale model of the Solar System a challenging task. As one example of the difficulty, the distance between the Earth and the Sun is almost 12,000 times the diameter of the Earth. If the smaller planets are to be easily visible to