5.2 The Relative Size and Distance Between The Earth, The Moon anf The Sun

1) The Sun is very huge when compare to the Earth and the Moon.

2) The ratio of their diameters is as follows:

the Sun

the Earth













the Moon























       Ratio of diameter:  400 : 4: 1

• The Sun is 400 times bigger than the Moon.
• The Sun is 100 times bigger than the Earth.
• The Earth is 4 times bigger than the Moon.

3) The ratio of the diameters is only a rough estimate.

4) The actual diameters of the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are as follows:

	The Sun	The Earth	The Moon
Diameter (km)	1391016	12756	3480

• The Earth is not round. The diameter from the north pole to the south pole is 12714 km.
• The diameter at the equator is 12756 km.
• The ratio of  the diameter of the Sun to the diameter of the Earth is actually about 110 : 1.

The Relative Distance From The Earth To The Sun And From
The Earth To The Moon

1) The following are the distances between the Sun, the Earth and the Moon.

Distance	Between the Sun and the Earth	Between the Earth and the Moon
Distance (km)	150 000 000	382 500

2) The relative distance of the Earth to the Sun and of the Earth to the Moon is as follows:

                                   Earth to Sun               :              Earth to Moon

Approximate
ratio of distance:            400                          :                       1