Planetární stezka v Opavě, Educational planet trail in Opava, Czech Republic

The Planetary Trail in Opava is an educational path stretching about 13 kilometers with models of all eight planets and the moon distributed throughout the city and nearby areas. These models follow a consistent scale that shows where each celestial body would be positioned relative to the sun.

The idea came from former Opava mayor Jan Mrázek in 1997; the trail was built in 2006. In 2022 it was extended with orientation maps and models of seven moons: Io, Ganymede, Titan, Callisto, Europa, Titania and Triton. The Sun model, a 230 cm concrete sphere by Opava-born architect Ivo Klimeš, dates from 1977 and stands in the Koule fountain on Horní náměstí.

The trail links recognizable city locations such as the Silesian Theater and botanical gardens into one coherent experience. Visitors discover these places in a fresh way as they encounter the planetary models positioned throughout the area.

The route runs from the concrete Sun sphere in the Koule fountain on Horní náměstí to Pluto in the Nový Dvůr Arboretum, 9.5 km away, so plan a one-way walk or a return by bus. Orientation maps were added along the trail in 2022. The trail passes through Stěbořice in the Opava district.

The trail includes two asteroids, Oppavia and Silesia, placed symbolically although they orbit in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, where over 600,000 small planets have been discovered. The route also honours astronomer Zdeněk Stuchlík with a model of asteroid Zdenekstuchlik, about 6 km across.