The greatest length between two points within the contiguous U.S. is 2,892 miles , stretching from Point Arena , CA to West Quoddy Head , ME * . The circumference of the Moon is 6,784 . To assist put the scale leaf of each into perspective , redditor boredboarder8 decided to overlie one on top of the other , yield rise to the approximation you see above . [ Click here for hi - res ]
write boredboarder8 :
It was difficult for me to fathom the sizing of the moon , thus inhale the creation of this mathematical function . For me , this map puts the scale of the moonshine much littler than I previously imagine . But it ’s really interesting hearing how others ( already savvy the size of the synodic month ) now see the US as larger . [ Ed . : ‘ MURICA , amirite ? ]
It was one definitely a weird challenge to take a “ flat ” map of something on a orbit and project it onto a smaller domain . Got mindfucked a few times along the path . Certainly take it only as an approximation , but what intrigued me the most is that the distance spanning the continental United States is roughly equal to a little less than half the perimeter of the lunar month .
We repeat : this is just a rough estimation , but it ’s certainly good enough for governance work when it come to illustrating the Moon ’s relative dinkiness . ( Or America ’s hulking hugeness , depending on how loyal you ’re feeling . )
It ’s strange — when we imagine aim in our solar system ( even 1 we roll in the hay to be “ small , ” proportional to other celestial bodies ) I distrust that many of us consider them as just being unrelatably huge . They exist at scales so turgid , and at distances so vast , that turn relating to mass , surface expanse and volume — descriptive though they may be — are interpret effectively nonmeaningful .
So it ’s always overnice when image like this derive along that avail put things into perspective , whether it’sa side - by - side comparing of all the water on Earth relative to the Earth itself , a figure illustratingthere ’s more water on Jupiter ’s synodic month Europa than there is on Earth , or a map of the U.S. slapped across the Moon ’s near - side .
https://gizmodo.com/if-you-collected-all-of-earths-water-into-a-sphere-ho-5908108
https://gizmodo.com/theres-more-water-on-jupiters-moon-europa-than-there-5913104
AstronomyCaliforniaMainemapsSciencesizeSpace
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