You Asked
How big is the moon? — Deepan, Vadodara, India

Marshall Answered

The moon is a sphere that is 3,475 kilometers or 2,160 miles in diameter. For comparison, the earth is 12,750 kilometers or 7925 miles in diameter. So let’s round it off and say the earth has a diameter of 8,000 miles and the moon has a diameter of 2,000 miles.

To put that into better perspective, a standard NBA size 7 basketball is 9 inches in diameter. A standard racquetball is 2.25 inches in diameter. So if you put a racquetball next to a basketball, you have a good approximation of the moon and the earth.

So the moon is definitely smaller than the earth. But is is still fairly big in terms of area. A sphere that is 2,160 miles in diameter has an area of about 14.7 million square miles. All of North America (which includes Canada, the continental United States, Mexico, Alaska, etc.) is only about 10 million square miles. Brazil is a huge country at 3.3 million square miles. So you could easily fit all of North America plus Brazil onto the moon and have room left over.

See also: