# earth to moon distance scale **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 7, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299 "2009-04-07T20:46:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/1 "2009-04-07T20:46:25Z")
Does this picture surprise you? [Earth and Moon to Scale](http://www.freemars.org/jeff/planets/Luna/Luna.htm) I have to admit even though my perception of the size difference between the two has been accurate, I was waaaay off in how far away the moon was. Especially since (according to the picture) a pixel ~ 600km, which is higher than most objects orbit the earth. For some reason I always pictured that once the space shuttle got into orbit it would only have to go another 25,000 km or so (2x earth diameter). I never pictured it to be 30x the earth’s diameter. No wonder we never go there anymore. (I’m thinking my poor peception of this stems from crappy 3-d models seen when I was a kid.) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/2 "2009-04-07T20:51:42Z")
It actually seems closer than what I pictured. But that was after I’d read about it. When I was a kid, my perception was totally different. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/3 "2009-04-07T22:08:24Z")
Yeah, wow. I thought it was only about 1 Earth-diameter away. I didn’t realize it was so big, either. Always thought it’d be something like a 6-hour drive around the moon (at 65mph). It’s more like 4 days. ---
**Author:** ![Carnacki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Carnacki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnacki)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/4 "2009-04-07T22:11:32Z")
Slight hijack, but the bottom picture is the one that surprised me. The moon’s diameter is about 1/4 that of the earth…but I remembering hearing that about its mass, not diameter. So, it was much smaller in comparison than I expected. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/5 "2009-04-07T22:16:42Z")
(Missed edit window.) I guess I need to stop drawing it like [this](http://i41.tinypic.com/bdsg0w.png) in iSketch. And here I thought I was the secret bastard child of Einstein and Picasso. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/6 "2009-04-07T22:44:50Z")
That’s about the scale/perspective I expected. It’s not so far, but not so near either. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/7 "2009-04-08T02:40:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Always thought it’d be something like a 6-hour drive around the moon (at 65mph). As a rough guide, driving to the Moon would be approximately like driving fifty round trips across the United States. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/8 "2009-04-08T02:50:56Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > As a rough guide, driving to the Moon would be approximately like driving fifty round trips across the United States. I think he meant driving around it’s equator, on the surface–not driving TO the moon. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/9 "2009-04-08T03:34:56Z")
> [@](#): > > The Moon’s surface area is a bit greater than Africa’s I don’t know if that is a commentary on how small the moon is or how big Africa is. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/10 "2009-04-08T13:05:23Z")
Another comparison I saw in a book always stuck with me. Say the Earth is a basketball. The space shuttle orbits something like a half-inch above it. The moon would be a softball about (guessing from memory) 15 feet away. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/11 "2009-04-08T13:58:13Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > Another comparison I saw in a book always stuck with me. > > Say the Earth is a basketball. The space shuttle orbits something like a half-inch above it. The moon would be a softball about (guessing from memory) 15 feet away. Sounds about right. And about the length of a football field away (NOT counting the endzones!) would be the asteroid belt. And if you smooshed all of the asteroids together into one huge ball, it’d be about the size of… …a grain of sand. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/12 "2009-04-08T14:57:29Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > And if you smooshed all of the asteroids together into one huge ball, it’d be about the size of… > > …a grain of sand. Hm, it’d have to be a pretty big grain of sand. If the Earth was a basketball, the asteroid Ceres in the same scale would be more than 2/3 of an inch in diameter. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/13 "2009-04-08T15:07:24Z")
> [@Santos\_L\_Halper](#): > > Hm, it’d have to be a pretty big grain of sand. If the Earth was a basketball, the asteroid Ceres in the same scale would be more than 2/3 of an inch in diameter. Hmm.. > [@](#): > > The total mass of all the asteroids in the asteroid belt is about 1/35th of that of our moon. > > Its largest object in the asteroid belt, Ceres, makes about 1/3 of the total weight of all the asteroids. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/14 "2009-04-08T15:15:18Z")
So all of the asteroids together would be a large pebble, with Ceres as a small pebble. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/15 "2009-04-08T15:27:36Z")
I was not surprised by the diagram. I did not know that the earth is the densest planet, though. It makes sense, being the largest solid planet, but it’s still a cool factoid. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/16 "2009-04-08T15:59:59Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Hmm.. I’m not clear on if you’re posting that info to back up the grain of sand reference. But just in case you are: The Earth is 12750 Km in diameter. [The site your quote comes from](http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikijunior:Solar_System/Asteroid_belt) shows that Ceres is 933 Km in diameter. So Ceres is 7.3% the diameter of Earth. A basketball is 9.29 inches in diameter, so Ceres to the same scale would be .68 inches in diameter. Finally, Wikipedia says grains of sand [range in diameter from 0.0625 (or 1⁄16 mm, or 62.5 micrometers) to 2 millimeters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/17 "2009-04-08T16:10:33Z")
So can you potentially drive a “spaceship” through the asteroid belt without worrying about any damage? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/18 "2009-04-08T16:23:17Z")
> [@](#): > > And about the length of a football field away (NOT counting the endzones!) would be the asteroid belt. I think your numbers are off. Your numbers give a 20:1 ratio of distances. The actual ratio is more like 400:1. If the moon is a ball fifteen feet away then the distance to the asteroid belt is twenty football fields. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/19 "2009-04-08T16:30:10Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > Say the Earth is a basketball. The space shuttle orbits something like a half-inch above it. The moon would be a softball about (guessing from memory) 15 feet away. Or about double that (~30’ if a basketball is a foot in diameter). ---
**Author:** ![Orpington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cc9497/32.png) [@Orpington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orpington)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299/20 "2009-04-08T16:38:08Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > … And here I thought I was the secret bastard child of Einstein and Picasso. Perhaps you are… Even if I hadn’t known what the drawing represented it’s obvious at a glance. The green & blue coloring helps, of course. It’s a great sketch! (But yeah, the scale is off. Oh well.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earth-to-moon-distance-scale/492299.md?page=2)