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You might have come across a planet or two while walking through Alton Baker Park, but did you know how this uniquely Eugene feature came to be?
What is the Eugene Solar System Trail?
The Eugene Solar System Trail runs along the Willamette River from a model of the Sun (more than 4 feet in diameter) in Alton Baker Park downstream to tiny Pluto (now called a dwarf planet).
The model solar system was inspired by a question: How do you explain the scope of our solar system to a fourth-grader?
That was what local resident Jack Van Dusen wondered in 1989 while talking with his son Ben.
“I had the idea of making a model,” Jack Van Dusen said. “You just can’t get things far enough away or they’d be so small. We got out a map, looked up the distances, and we painted the sun on the bike path.”
But a spark had been lit, other people helped out, and eight years later, the model was installed. Van Dusen continued to maintain it until recently, when the city of Eugene took over.
What about his son? Did the project inspire an interest in science?
Yes.
Ben Van Dusen graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and then taught at South Eugene High. He is now a professor of science education at Iowa State University.
And when Ben has been interviewed for jobs, Jack said, “The thing that people most wanted to talk about from his resume was the solar system project.”
Inspiring others
The success of the Eugene Solar System Trail and Van Dusen’s persistence inspired others, including one that was built in Midland, Michigan.
“We designed our own solar system sculptures based on astronomy and were inspired by models around the world, especially the one we later visited in Eugene, Oregon,” Bob Mass said in an April 5, 2017, article in The Midland Daily News.
“The ability to ride bikes or walk the 4-mile-or-so size of this outdoor model definitely leaves an impression,” a June 8, 2014, article in The Backpack Objective wrote of the Eugene installation.
The installation is nearing its 20th year and the community has, for the most part, enjoyed it without damaging the pieces.
“Not very much vandalism,” Van Dusen said. “Some guy saw Saturn’s rings at a friend’s house, stole it back and returned it to us. That was kind of cool. But it’s amazing how little vandalism there has been and people have really left it alone.”
For information about the Eugene Solar System Trail, visit the Eugene Science Center.
Experience the trail
The Eugene Science Center will host Pedal the Planets, Sunday, Sept. 14. The event starts with a show at 10 a.m. in the Planetarium before attendees get on bikes for a guided tour of the 4.5-mile Solar System Trail.
The roughly two-hour event costs $10. For information, visit https://eugenesciencecenter.org/event/pedal-the-planets/
