Comic: What would all the solar system's solid surfaces look like next to Earth?
Digital Reporter
Monday, February 9, 2015, 9:34 AM - We forget how large planets are from a human perspective when they're set against the vastness of space.
Sure, we kind of know there are other solid objects in the solar system aside from our own blue marble, but it's hard to compare them across the vast solar gulf.
So the artist of webcomic XKCD decided to make it easier for you by bringing all the solar system's other surfaces right alongside our own:
When you exclude gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, there's an awful lot of real estate orbiting our sun.
Venus takes up a lot of room on XKCD's map, as its surface area is around nine tenths that of Earth's. But Mars isn't too shabby. Looks like Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe could all comfortably fit on the red planet's surface.
Our Africa-sized moon makes a respectable appearance, but as you can see, it's not the largest satellite in the solar system. Jupiter's moons Ganymede, Callisto and Io are all larger, as is Saturn's moon of Titan.
Our moon is also outclassed by Mercury, our solar system's smallest "official" planet, but downgraded Pluto and fellow dwarf planet Eris could each fit into South America.
Some of the smaller objects, like Pluto's companion Charon, the asteroid Ceres and Uranean satellite Titania could each make it into Canada's territory, with a bit of wiggle room to spare.
Not a bad perspective on our enormous solar neighbourhood.
Source: xkcd.com. H/t to Reddit.
WATCH: Phases of the moon from the DARK side of the moon:
