Earth
Troposphere
Troposphere
Stratosphere
Stratosphere
Mesosphere
Start of Low Earth Orbit
Mesosphere
Thermosphere
Thermosphere
Exosphere
End of Low Earth Orbit
Exosphere
Magnetosphere
Magnetosphere
Inner Solar System
Inner Solar System
Outer Solar System
Outer Solar System
Heliosphere
Heliosphere
Edge of the solar system
Start of high cloud layer
6.1km
Height of Mount Everest
8.9km
Commercial aircraft cruising height
11km
Bell-X1 Aircraft
22km
Height reached by Chuck Yeager
in first supersonic aircraft
Chelyabinsk Meteor
23km
Height of 18 metre diameter meteor when it exploded over Russia in 2013
Legonaut
24km
Lego man launched by two Canadian teenagers in January 2012
Typical weather balloon height
27km
Highest skydive
39km
Felix Baumgartner sets the world record for skydiving, 2012
Highest living organisms
41km
Low concentrations of microbes and spore-forming bacteria
Highest unmanned balloon flight
53km
Meteors burn out
65km
Only large meteorites
reach Earth's surface
Lowest altitude of Aurora Borealis
80km
Karman Line
100km
Internationally accepted boundary between atmosphere and space
Iranian space monkey
120km
Iran claims that Fargam the monkey was successfully launched into space in December 2013
Meteor showers
190km
Small particles glow as they hit the upper atmosphere
First man in space
330km
Maximum height reached by the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961
International Space Station
420km
As measured on 27th February 2014
Earth's gravity 86% as strong
500km
Highest nuclear explosion
540km
ARGUS III, a US test above the South Atlantic in 1958
Hubble Space Telescope
570km
Concentrated space debris
900km
Spent satellite fragments and
junk from rocket launches
Beginning of inner Van Allen belt
1,000km
First of two intense radiation zones that can damage satellites
Farthest travelled by a dog
1,660km
The Soviet space dog Laika, in orbit aboard Sputnik 2 in 1957
Earth's gravity 50% as strong
2,600km
Earth's gravity 25% as strong
6,400km
End of inner Van Allen belt
10,000km
Near miss
11,300km
Distance a 15-metre asteroid passed from Earth in September 2013
Beginning of outer Van Allen belt
15,000km
Second of two intense radiation zones that can damage satellites
GPS satellites
20,200km
Asteroid 2012 DA14
27,700km
Distance a 30-metre asteroid passed from Earth in February 2013
Communications satellites
35,800km
End of outer Van Allen belt
60,000km
Geocorona
100,000km
Faint UV halo around Earth caused by hydrogen atoms scattering sunlight
Asteroid 2005 YU55
318,000km
Distance a 400-metre wide asteroid passed from Earth in November 2011
Moon
384,000km
Average distance from Earth
Farthest travelled by humans
400,000km
By astronauts Haise, Lovell and Swigert in an emergency return trajectory during the notorious 1970 Apollo 13 mission
Earth-Sun Lagrangian Point 2
1,490,000km
Earth-Sun Lagrangian Point 1
1,500,000km
One of five space probe 'parking lots' where gravitational effects of Earth and Sun balance out
Lexell Comet
2,260,000km
Closest known approach
to Earth by a comet (1770)
7P/Pons-Winnecke Comet
5,890,000km
Closest known approach to Earth by a comet in the 20th Century (1927)
Asteroid Toutatis
6,900,000km
Passed close to Earth in December 2012
Sun (Brahe's Estimate)
8,000,000km
Tycho Brahe's 16th-Century estimate of distance to the Sun
45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova Comet
8,990,000km
Closest known approach
by a comet in 21st Century
Sun (Kepler's Estimate)
24,000,000km
Johannes Kepler's 17th-Century estimate of distance to the Sun
Venus
38,200,000km
Minimum distance from Earth
Mars
55,700,000km
Minimum distance from Earth
Halley's Comet
62,800,000km
Closest approach to Earth (1986)
Mercury
77,300,000km
Minimum distance from Earth
Ceres
429,000,000km
The largest asteroid in our Solar System at 945km across
Sun (Cassini's Estimate)
140,000,000km
Giovanni Cassini's 1672 estimate of distance to the Sun
Sun
150,000,000km
Average distance from Earth. Lagrangian points 4 and 5 also
at this distance.
Juno Probe
215,000,000km
As of 14 February 2014. Bound for Jupiter on a mission to investigate its atmosphere and deep interior
Inner edge of main asteroid belt
Jupiter
589,000,000km
Minimum distance from Earth
Outer edge of main asteroid belt
600,000,000km
Saturn
1,200,000,000km
Minimum distance from Earth
Cassini Probe
1,500,000,000km
Orbiting Saturn since 2004
Uranus
2,580,000,000km
Minimum distance from Earth
Pluto
4,280,000,000km
Minimum distance from Earth
Neptune
4,310,000,000km
Minimum distance from Earth
New Horizons Probe
4,380,000,000km
On its way to investigate Pluto and the Kuiper Belt
Inner edge of Kuiper belt
4,490,000,000km
Icy region beyond the planets containing frozen water, methane and ammonia
Outer edge of Kuiper belt
7,480,000,000km
Termination Shock
12,600,000,000km
'Wind' of electrically charged particles from the Sun becomes denser, hotter and slower
Voyager 2 Probe
15,700,000,000km
As of 21 February 2014.
Launched in August 1977 and contains a gold phonograph record with greetings from Earth to any living being it might encounter.
Voyager 1 Probe
19,000,000,000km
As of 21 February 2014.
Launched September, 1977,
and is the farthest man-made
object from Earth.
You've now reached the outer edges of our own solar system
It would take you about 23 million years of continuous scrolling on this scale to get to the farthest regions of the observable universe, another 435,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 km
or 46 billion light years away.
We think we'll stop here.
Live long and prosper
Everything in space is moving constantly, and distances are variable and dynamic over wide ranges. Data are rounded to a maximum of 3 significant figures. In most cases, we have given average distances for simplicity's sake. For planets, we have given minimum distances - the closest the planets come to Earth over the course of their orbits. Other distances (termination shock, heliopause) are uncertain and estimates are given. Some distances, particularly the location of probes and other man-made spacecraft, are based on time-specific readings taken in February 2014. Travel times are based on travelling in a straight line - spacecraft rarely do this in practice. Asteroid and comet measurements are diameters. Distances are from Earth’s surface. Object sizes are not to scale.
Distance
Scale of journey
To boldly go... (HH:MM:SS)
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00:00:00 at Warp 1