The
Football
Scale
If the Earth were a football - a standard size 5 football measuring 22 cm across - how big would everything else be, and how far away?
Scaled sizes
The Sun
A tennis court length
24 mSun at this scale
23.77 mTennis court
Almost exact
The Moon
An American pool ball
6 cmMoon at this scale
5.715 cmPool ball
Very close
THE GIANT PLANETS SPIN THE FASTEST
They complete one rotation in:
- Jupiter
- 9.9 hours
- Saturn
- 10.7 hours
- Neptune
- 16.1 hours
- Uranus
- 17.2 hours
Their rapid rotation makes them noticeably wider than they are tall. They bulge more at the equator.
Jupiter
Almost the height of a football goal2.47 mEquatorial width
2.31 mPole to pole
2.44 mFootball goal height
Venus
A size 4 football(a slightly smaller ball for youth players.)
20.9 cmVenus at this scale
21 cmSize 4 football
Almost exact
Neptune
The height of a washing machine
85.4 cmEquatorial width
84 cmPole to pole
85 cmWashing machine
Very close
You've seen the sizes.
Now: how far apart?
Scaled distances
Earth to the Moon
The average distance is 6.63 m centre to centre.The live distance is loading.
A full-size football goal is 7.32 m wide, so the Moon sits just inside the far post.
A full-size football goal is 7.32 m wide, so the Moon sits just inside the far post.
The Sun to the Planets
The tennis-court-sized Sun sits on Wimbledon's Centre Court. We will place the planets in a straight line across the map using their mean average distances from the Sun. You can also switch to their calculated live positions and current distances.
From Washington, D.C., on a map
Each map pairs a planet's exact scaled distance with a nearby city at roughly the same straight-line distance.