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andrewmaixner t1_jb9rqlv wrote

Reply to comment by steelcryo in When humans next land on the moon, will our telescopes from Earth's surface be able to photograph the rocket on the moon's surface? by Nswl

And for those who benefit from geographic comparison, the moon is almost as wide as the continental United States, or 2/3 as wide as China.

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formerlyanonymous_ t1_jb9tqbf wrote

Huh, I'd definitely thought bigger. Thanks.

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coren77 t1_jb9xyaf wrote

Me too.... so I looked it up just to get a grasp on difference! From a purely diameter related measurement, the moon is ~2100 miles, while the earth is around 8000 miles in diameter. The US is around 2700 miles across depending on how you measure. However in actual square miles, the moon is MUCH more massive (sphere, yay!) than any one country on earth; the moon is around 14.6million square miles, wile the entire continent of asia is around 17.2million sq miles (largest country on earth, Russia, is "only" 6.6 million miles).

The More You Know!

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Legitimate_Bat3240 t1_jbamjqk wrote

Surface area of the moon is a few million less sq miles than the total surface area of Asia.

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andrewmaixner t1_jban7wi wrote

Yes. My super-basic comparison is based on diameter or width (not surface area), Asia is != China, and the moon is spherical not mostly-flat. This is "X river is Y football fields long" quality of comparison ;)

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