Body diameters to scale. Positions and surface artwork are illustrative; Saturn’s rings are excluded.
A change of perspective
25.272× the diameter. See how the two worlds measure up.
Diameter is a distance across an object. Volume grows with the cube of that distance.
Choose a size to bring this comparison down to Earth.
Enceladus: Calculated as twice JPL’s volume-equivalent mean radius of 252.10 km: diameter = 504.20 km. The listed radius sigma of 0.20 km becomes 0.40 km for diameter. This describes a sphere with Enceladus’s volume, rather than an equatorial, polar or maximum width.
Earth: Twice the source mean radius; body diameter only, excluding rings.
Calculated as twice JPL’s volume-equivalent mean radius of 252.10 km: diameter = 504.20 km. The listed radius sigma of 0.20 km becomes 0.40 km for diameter. This describes a sphere with Enceladus’s volume, rather than an equatorial, polar or maximum width.
Saturn’s moon Enceladus has a volume-equivalent mean diameter of approximately 504.2 km. JPL lists a mean radius of 252.10 km; doubling it gives the diameter used here. The corresponding diameter uncertainty is 0.40 km at the table’s stated sigma. Source: JPL satellite physical parameters.
Using JPL’s mean radii for both bodies, Earth’s Moon has a diameter of 3,474.8 km, about 6.89 times Enceladus’s diameter. If the Moon were a 10 cm ball, Enceladus would be about 1.45 cm across. This compares linear size, not mass or orbital distance. The ratio is rounded. Source: JPL satellite physical parameters.
A volume-equivalent diameter describes a sphere containing the same volume as the measured body. Equatorial and polar diameters instead describe particular directions; an irregular body’s longest span is another measurement again. Keep the definition consistent when comparing objects. The artwork is illustrative. See our comparison methodology.