Rigel and Aldebaran (top left and right) compared to smaller stars and the Sun (very small dot in lower middle): click image for larger view and links to other scales.

To help compare different distances this page lists lengths starting at 10¹⁰ metres (10 gigametres (Gm) or 10 million kilometres, or 0.07 Astronomical units).

Distances shorter than 10¹⁰ metres

• 15 Gm — Closest distance of Comet Hyakutake from Earth
• 18 Gm — One light-minute (see yellow sphere in right-hand diagram)
• 24 Gm — Radius of a heliostationary orbit
• 46 Gm — Perihelion distance of Mercury (yellow ellipse on the right)
• 55 Gm — 60,000-year perigee of Mars (last achieved on August 27, 2003)
• 58 Gm — Average passing distance between Earth and Mars at the moment they overtake each other in their orbits
• 61 Gm^[1][2] — Diameter of Aldebaran, an orange giant star (large star on right)
• 70 Gm — Aphelion distance of Mercury
• 76 Gm — Neso's apocentric distance; greatest distance of a natural satellite from its parent planet (Neptune)
• 86 Gm^{[3][clarification needed]} — Diameter of Rigel, a blue supergiant star (largest star on right)

Distances longer than 10¹¹ metres

[edit] See also

Click on the thumbnail image to jump to the desired order of length magnitude: top-left is 1e6m, lower-right is 1e17m. (Image description)

[edit] References