I’m sometimes asked what’s the one thing I wish people would understand better about the Universe. My answer is always the same: scale. We humans have a miserable sense of just how big space is, and I’ve spent a lot of time over the years working out ways to express it better.
Most people don’t really grasp just how far away the Moon is, and it’s the closest astronomical object in the sky! So I’m glad this video came out, and is actually getting spread around the web a bit:
When I see something like this, my first reaction is: I’d better check that math. So, first question: is the basketball/tennis ball size ratio the same as for the Earth/Moon? IN other words, if the Earth is a basketball, does a tennis ball get the size of the Moon right?
The Earth is 12,740 km (7900 miles) across, and the Moon 3474 km (2150 miles) in diameter, for a ratio of 3.7.
A standard NBA basketball is 24 cm (9.4 inches) in diameter, and a tennis ball 6.7 cm (2.6 inches), for a ratio of 3.6. Pretty good! I’ll have to remember that; it’s pretty useful.
So how far away ...
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