Planetary size comparison: planets, moons and the Sun to scale

Planet size comparison chart: the planets in order of size

From smallest to largest, the planets are Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. Jupiter, the biggest, is about 29 times as wide as Mercury, the smallest, and about 11 times as wide as Earth. The four rocky planets are small: Earth, the largest of them, measures 7,926 mi / 12,756 km, while Neptune, the smallest of the four giants, is already 30,775 mi / 49,528 km across.

Planet sizes are diameters measured at the equator. The four giants have no solid surface, so NASA measures them at the level where the gas pressure is one bar, about the air pressure at sea level on Earth; Saturn’s rings are not included. The table lists the planets from smallest to largest:

Planet size comparison with the Sun: Jupiter, Earth and the stars

The Sun is about 9.7 times as wide as Jupiter and about 109 times as wide as Earth: 864,576 mi / 1,391,400 km across. Laid side by side, all eight planets together would span only about 29 percent of the Sun’s diameter. Other stars range far: the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun, measures 121,905 mi / 196,187 km, only about 1.4 times Jupiter; Sirius A measures 1,481,020 mi / 2,383,470 km, and the red supergiant Betelgeuse about 660 million mi / 1.1 billion km, some 764 times the Sun.

That last number is an estimate: Betelgeuse pulsates, its edge is not sharp, and the research paper behind it gives a wide range. In the chart, planets and stars sit on the ground like balls and are drawn by their diameter; “Fit all” brings even the biggest star into view, and a tap on a planet shows how many times larger or smaller everything else is. More in the guide “Earth and Moon size comparison, and how both measure up to the Sun”.

Dwarf planet size comparison: Pluto, Eris, Haumea and the big moons

Pluto is the biggest dwarf planet at 1,477 mi / 2,377 km across, with Eris next at 1,445 mi / 2,326 km; both are smaller than Earth’s Moon (2,159 mi / 3,475 km). Haumea is not round but elongated, so its 1,081 mi / 1,740 km is NASA’s equatorial figure – one number for a round drawing. Ceres, the dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, measures 584 mi / 939 km.

The biggest moons rival the small planets: Ganymede (3,270 mi / 5,262 km) and Titan (3,200 mi / 5,150 km) are wider than the planet Mercury (3,032 mi / 4,879 km), and Earth’s Moon is about 27 percent as wide as Earth. Dwarf planets and moons are drawn by their diameter like the planets, so a moon can stand right next to the planet it circles:

How to use Height Studio

1. Add yourself and others

   Open “Add person”, type a name and a height – 5′9″, 69 in, 175 or 1.75 m all work – and pick a figure, a build and a color. Children, teens and older people have their own silhouettes. “Add to comparison” puts the person into the chart.

2. Pick from the library

   In “Library”, type what you are looking for – a country, an animal, a building – or open a category. Every row shows the size and what was measured, and “Order” lists the figures A–Z or “Tallest first”.

3. Measure and compare

   Tap a figure to draw its measuring line across the chart. A card shows how much taller or shorter everyone else is and, for big things, how many of you it would take to reach the top.

4. Compare by length

   “Length” lines everything up by its length instead: ships, planes, trains, cars, whales and dinosaurs side by side from a start line, with people and rockets lying down. “Height” switches back.

5. Zoom, move and go full screen

   Pinch or use + and − to zoom, drag to move along the line-up, and “Fit all” brings everything back into view. “Full screen” gives the chart the whole screen; on a phone, turn it sideways for the widest view.

6. Share or save

   “Share link” copies a link with the whole comparison and “Save PNG” downloads it as a picture. In “Line-up” you can rename, recolor, reorder or remove every figure.

Popular comparisons

Tap one to load it into the chart above, then add yourself next to it.

• Sun vs. Jupiter – 864,576 mi / 1,391,400 km against 88,846 mi / 142,984 km: about 9.7 times as wide, a difference of 775,730 mi / 1,248,416 km.
• Jupiter vs. Earth – 88,846 mi / 142,984 km against 7,926 mi / 12,756 km: about 11 times as wide, a difference of 80,920 mi / 130,228 km.
• Earth vs. Moon – 7,926 mi / 12,756 km against 2,159 mi / 3,475 km: about 3.7 times as wide, a difference of 5,767 mi / 9,281 km.
• Earth vs. Mars – 7,926 mi / 12,756 km against 4,220 mi / 6,792 km: about 1.9 times as wide, a difference of 3,706 mi / 5,964 km.
• Saturn vs. Uranus – 74,898 mi / 120,536 km against 31,763 mi / 51,118 km: about 2.4 times as wide, a difference of 43,134 mi / 69,418 km.
• Moon vs. Pluto (dwarf planet) – 2,159 mi / 3,475 km against 1,477 mi / 2,377 km: about 1.5 times as wide, a difference of 682 mi / 1,098 km.
• Betelgeuse (red supergiant, estimate) vs. Sun – 660,536,218 mi / 1,063,030,000 km against 864,576 mi / 1,391,400 km: about 764 times as wide, a difference of 659,671,643 mi / 1,061,638,600 km.
• Ganymede (moon of Jupiter) vs. Mercury – 3,270 mi / 5,262 km against 3,032 mi / 4,879 km: a difference of 238 mi / 383 km.

Tips for better comparisons

• Measure in the morning, barefoot. You are tallest right after waking up and lose a little height over the day. The guide How to measure your height at home shows an exact method with a wall and a book.
• Start from an idea. “Ideas to try” below the chart loads ready line-ups – family, dinosaurs, the tallest buildings, the solar system – that you can change freely.
• Stand next to your country. Search for your country in “Library” and add its average man or woman, or open the average height by country page with the whole ranking.
• No account needed – but mind what a link shows. A shared link keeps the whole comparison in its address, so a bookmark saves it. Our server never sees that part, but anyone you send it to can read the names. Use initials for real people, or send the PNG.

How do I convert centimeters to feet and inches?

Divide the centimeters by 2.54 to get inches, then take out whole groups of 12 as feet: 175 cm ÷ 2.54 = 68.9 in, which is 5 ft 8.9 in – about 5′9″. The other way round, multiply the inches by 2.54: 5′9″ is 69 in, or 175.3 cm. Or leave it to the tool: type either one and switch with the “ft / in” and “cm / m” buttons. The chart rounds to the nearest inch; the line-up keeps the exact value.

What is measured: without shoes, at the shoulder, nose to tail

• People stand straight, without shoes. Children show the WHO median for their age; country averages are the mean height of 19-year-olds in 2019, estimated by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration from measured data.
• Four-legged animals are measured at the shoulder, as zoos and breed standards do. The figure stands with its shoulder on that height, so a horse’s head rises above the line.
• Long animals – snakes, whales, sharks and most dinosaurs – are measured nose to tail, so the drawing is scaled by its length. Dinosaur sizes are museum estimates from fossils.
• Buildings use their official height to the architectural top, spires included; mountains their height above sea level. Planets sit on the ground like balls and are drawn by their diameter, and altitudes such as the Kármán line run across the chart.

Where the numbers come from

The figures in the library rest on 406 source pages – nothing is guessed. The one exception is marked as such: mythical creatures are legends, so their sizes come from the stories that tell of them or are illustration sizes, and each one carries a legend tag. Typical values are averages or the middle of the range a source gives, so real individuals vary. A few of the main sources by category:

• People & ages: World Health Organization, NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)
• Famous people: Guinness World Records, NBA.com, Team USA
• Sports: FIBA, Volleyball World, International Journal of Morphology
• Animals: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Animal Diversity Web, American Kennel Club
• Prehistoric: Natural History Museum, London, Field Museum, Chicago, Guinness World Records
• Mythical creatures: Project Gutenberg, Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, Internet Archive
• Tiny world: Animal Diversity Web, The Wildlife Trusts, Royal Horticultural Society
• Objects: The IFAB, FIBA, FIVB
• Vehicles: Lufthansa Group, NASA, SpaceX
• Buildings: CTBUH Skyscraper Center, U.S. National Park Service, Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District
• Nature: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Woodland Trust, Guinness World Records
• Space: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Science, NASA
• Altitudes: FAI, NASA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Countries: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

Every source with its link is on the sources page.

More height comparisons

• Height comparison chart
• Average height by country
• Dinosaur size comparison
• Tallest buildings in the world
• Tallest man in the world
• Animal size comparison
• Bear size comparison
• Cat size comparison
• Shark size comparison
• Spider size comparison
• Length comparison
• Ship size comparison