How far apart is everything in space?
Space is mostly the gaps. On a scale where Earth is a peppercorn, the nearest star is 4 000 kilometres away.
Almost exactly the Moon
384,400 km is bigger than 2 of the 10 references on this page.
Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.
| Reference | Size | Yours ÷ theirs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| the ISS | 408 km | 942× | |
| GPS satellites | 20,200 km | 19× | |
| the Moon | 384,400 km | 1× | |
| Venus at closest | 38,000,000 km | 1/98.9 | |
| Mars at closest | 54,600,000 km | 1/142 | |
| the Sun | 149,600,000 km | 1/389 | |
| Jupiter | 778,500,000 km | 1/2,025 | |
| Neptune | 4,495,000,000 km | 1/11,694 | |
| Voyager 1 | 24,000,000,000 km | 1/62,435 | |
| Proxima Centauri | 40,140,000,000,000 km | 1/104,422,477 |
Worth knowing
- Voyager 1 has been flying for nearly fifty years and is still only 0.06% of the way to the nearest star.
- The distance to Mars varies by a factor of seven over its orbit, which is why launch windows matter so much.
Frequently asked
How far is Mars from Earth?
Between 54.6 million and 401 million kilometres, depending on where both planets are. The famous "closest approach" figure only happens every 26 months.
What is an astronomical unit?
Exactly 149 597 870 700 metres — the Earth–Sun distance, fixed by definition in 2012 rather than measured.