PLANET SANDWICH

How many planets could you fit between Earth and the Moon?

It can be difficult to comprehend the magnitude of space and the planets that exist in our solar system. To us, they only ever appear - if at all - as a speck of gleaming light among a vast black sky of sparkling stars.

The celestial body we see most clearly (given we should not be staring directly at the sun) is our moon.

On a cloudless night, the patchy surface of the moon is clear to see, and it can feel like the orbiting rock is not so far away at all.

After all, the journey to the moon is just a few days on a rocket.

And when we think of solar system models built in schools, or shown in museums, we picture huge worlds of ice, gas and rock which together make up a solar system that spans billions of miles, while our relatively little moon hovers close to Earth.

But in reality, the moon is hundreds of thousands of miles away.

At its furthest point of orbit it reaches a distance of 252,088 miles to be exact.

And it turns out that is just enough space to fit in every one of our solar system’s planets one next to the other.

With less than 10,000 miles to spare.

But in reality, the moon is hundreds of thousands of miles away.

At its furthest point of orbit it reaches a distance of 252,088 miles to be exact.

And it turns out that is just enough space to fit in every one of our solar system’s planets one next to the other.

With less than 10,000 miles to spare.

Like a perfect, planet sandwich with room for sauce.

To put it into another perspective, the same gap could be filled by 31 Earths.

Our Earth measures 7,926 miles in diameter, so at the furthest point of orbit, a total of 31 could be squeezed in at a total length of 245,706 miles.

So as it turns out, our planet's moon is so much more than just a world away.