[Publius6961]

We're zipping around through some fairly congested space.

Not even close, except in the hysterical graphics that passes for science these days. Certainly not as congested as that graphic suggests. NOTHING IS TO SCALE!

Kids of all ages are not as dumb as we adults assume. The can certainly grasp the concept of relative distances and sizes.

I suggest these two sites as a start in understanding the distances and sizes involved :

A Very Long Web Page

More Suitable for Adults

Even the "science" satellite TV channels dumb things down to silliness. Not really necessary.

[LibWhacker]

Calm down. I didn't mean to alarm you. You are correct, it's not to scale. As I said. So it's nothing to hyperventilate about.

However, relatively speaking, the local environs of the inner solar system are indeed fairly congested. With nearly 10,000 known Near Earth Objects (almost 1,000 of them kilometer size or larger) and perhaps twice that many yet to be discovered, we should be paying attention.