Body diameters to scale. Positions and surface artwork are illustrative; Saturn’s rings are excluded.
A change of perspective
2.4744× 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.
Titan: Diameter calculated as twice JPL’s volume-equivalent mean radius: 2 × 2,574.76 km = 5,149.52 km. This describes a sphere with Titan’s volume, rather than an equatorial or polar diameter. JPL lists a radius sigma of 0.02 km, corresponding to a diameter sigma of 0.04 km.
Earth: Twice the source mean radius; body diameter only, excluding rings.
Diameter calculated as twice JPL’s volume-equivalent mean radius: 2 × 2,574.76 km = 5,149.52 km. This describes a sphere with Titan’s volume, rather than an equatorial or polar diameter. JPL lists a radius sigma of 0.02 km, corresponding to a diameter sigma of 0.04 km.
Titan is the largest moon of Saturn. It is wider than Mercury, while Ganymede is only about 2% wider than Titan. These comparisons concern diameter, not mass. NASA describes Titan as nearly 50% wider than Earth’s Moon. This makes Titan a useful bridge between familiar lunar sizes and the scale of small planets. Source: NASA Titan Facts.
The adopted diameter is 5,149.52 km, calculated by doubling the mean radius in JPL’s satellite physical parameters table. JPL defines this radius using a sphere of equivalent volume and attributes it to Archinal and colleagues’ 2018 report. The listed radius uncertainty of 0.02 km becomes 0.04 km for diameter. This is a measured value with uncertainty, not an exact dimension. Equatorial and polar diameters describe different directions; the mean diameter provides one consistent size for comparison. See the measurement methodology.
The ice appearance is illustrative artwork, not a photographic map. Titan’s icy surface is hidden beneath a golden atmospheric haze in visible light. The comparison uses the adopted body diameter, not the apparent outer edge of that haze. Source: NASA Titan Facts.