Size of the Moon

The moon is measured in many different ways. The size of the moon can be measured according to its diameter, its surface area, its volume, and its mass.

In diameter, the moon tips the tape at 3,474 kilometers. It has a radius of 1,737.10 kilometers or 1.079 miles; its equatorial radius is 1,738.14 kilometers or 1,080 miles; and its polar radius is 1,735.97 kilometers or 1,079 miles. The moon is roughly one fourth of the earth’s diameter. The earth has a diameter of 12,742 kilometers. If you combine the size of the United States of America, Canada, and Russia, you get the size of the moon.

The moon has a surface area of 37.9 million square kilometers. It is a little smaller than the surface area of Asia, which is 44.4 square kilometers.

The moon has a volume of 2.195 x 1010 km3. That is only about 2% of the earth’s volume. That means, you could fit in 50 moons of that volume into the earth.

Lastly, the mass of the moon is 7.347 x 1022 kg. That is again, no match to the earth’s mass. It is only about 1.2% in comparison to the mass of the earth. If you are to put the moon and the earth in a scale, you will need a stack of moons to equalize the earth.

The Moon

The moon is the only natural satellite that can be found on the earth. Its size ranks fifth to the size of the other satellites in the solar system. The distance between the moon and the earth is about thirty times the diameter of the earth. The moon is 384,403 kilometers or 238,857 miles far from the earth.

The moon is quite a favorite subject among astronomers. Its characteristics are so in demand that there have been a couple of explorations held so humans can get to know it better. The moon is also distinctive that way. It is the only celestial body where a manned landing was made possible.

Getting the size of the moon is never possible if you will only measure it according to what your naked eye can see. It is in fact, impossible for any celestial body to be measured directly. We are not only talking about the moon but also the stars, the planets, and even the sun here. To explain that further, did you know that the sun is far bigger than the moon? Yet when we look at the sky, we can strongly assess that the moon and the sun are almost of the same size. That’s only because the distance between the earth and the sun is far greater than the distance between the earth and the moon.