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this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2026
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All the planets in the solar system can fit between the earth and the moon
Australia is wider than the moon. If earth had the size of a football (soccer), the moon would be about 7m away. If the sun had a diameter of 1m, Neptune would be 5.6km away. In that scale model, the next star would be placed in the outer planets. Space is insanely big.
I’m confused what you mean by wider. As far as I can tell Australia is about 4000km wide and the moon’s circumference is about 11000km
EDIT: it’s late and I am dumb, I take it you mean the moon’s diameter! 3474km
7 meters?
I looked up the circumference of a football and it said about 70cm. As the moon is about 10 times the circumference of the earth away, that'd put the moon at 7m away.
That's insane when you really think about it.
I doubt we'll ever leave our system
If you count Voyager, we already have.
Otherwise ... Yea, I'll be surprised if society in general even makes it to 2100 unscathed.
Voyager is fantastic, but it’s still way, way closer to the solar system than anything else.
An excerpt from Wikipedia:
Yes, and they are still on a galactic orbit, not a solar orbit. They are, unquestionably, the first things we're sending off, regardless of whether they arrive anywhere substantial.
This is why I don't get excited to hear about the discovery of 'Earth-like planets' 182 light years away.
sometimes