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Space Ladder

From the Moon to the stars on one scale. Feel how far it really is.

This page lists 6 source-checked comparisons in Space Ladder, ranked from the biggest value to the smallest. Each table shows its unit, the year the figures describe, how sure we are, the date we last verified it and the sources behind it.

Topics: Moon and planets, Planets and Sun, Telescopes, Deep space, Moon.

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Closest distance to Earth (million km)

Estimated Moon and planets · As of NASA · Verified 2026-10-31 · WWV-CP-SL-001

#	Name	Value (million km)
1	Neptune Closest	4,300 million km
2	Saturn Closest	1,195 million km
3	Jupiter Closest	588 million km
4	Mars Closest	54.6 million km
5	Venus Closest	38.2 million km
6	Moon Average	0.38 million km

Rounded closest approach distances. Planets are at varying distances through their orbits.

Sources

Escape velocity (km/s)

Confirmed Moon and planets · As of NASA · Verified 2026-10-31 · WWV-CP-SL-002

#	Name	Value (km/s)
1	Jupiter Cloud tops	59.5 km/s
2	Saturn Cloud tops	35.5 km/s
3	Earth Surface	11.19 km/s
4	Venus Surface	10.36 km/s
5	Mars Surface	5.03 km/s
6	Moon Surface	2.38 km/s

Planet values come from NASA's fact sheet.

Sources

Radius of the Sun and planets (km)

Confirmed Planets and Sun · As of 2026 · Verified 2026-11-06 · WWV-CP-SL-011

#	Name	Value (km)
1	Sun Radius	695,700 km
2	Jupiter Radius	69,886 km
3	Saturn Radius	58,232 km
4	Uranus Radius	25,362 km
5	Neptune Radius	24,622 km
6	Earth Radius	6,371.01 km
7	Venus Radius	6,051.8 km
8	Mars Radius	3,389.5 km

Mean radius from the cited list.

Sources

Biggest optical telescope mirrors (meters)

Confirmed Telescopes · As of 2026 · Verified 2026-11-06 · WWV-CP-SL-012

#	Name	Value (meters)
1	Large Binocular Telescope Aperture	11.9 meters
2	Gran Telescopio Canarias Aperture	10.4 meters
3	Hobby–Eberly Telescope Aperture	10 meters
4	Keck 1 Aperture	10 meters
5	Keck 2 Aperture	10 meters
6	Southern African Large Telescope Aperture	9.2 meters
7	Subaru Aperture	8.2 meters
8	VLT UT1 – Antu Aperture	8.2 meters

Effective aperture from the cited list; Keck 1 and Keck 2 are twins.

Sources

Most distant objects found (redshift)

Estimated Deep space · As of 2026 · Verified 2026-11-06 · WWV-CP-SL-013

#	Name	Value (redshift (z))
1	MoM-z14 Redshift	14.44 redshift (z)
2	JADES-GS-z14-0 Redshift	14.18 redshift (z)
3	JADES-GS-z14-1 Redshift	13.9 redshift (z)
4	PAN-z14-1 Redshift	13.53 redshift (z)
5	JADES-GS-z13-0 Redshift	13.2 redshift (z)
6	UNCOVER-z13 Redshift	13.08 redshift (z)
7	JADES-GS-z13-1 Redshift	13 redshift (z)
8	JADES-GS-z12-0 Redshift	12.63 redshift (z)

Spectroscopically confirmed redshift from the cited list. A higher number means farther and earlier in cosmic history.

Sources

Heaviest human-made objects on the Moon (kg)

Estimated Moon · As of 2026 · Verified 2026-11-06 · WWV-CP-SL-014

#	Name	Value (kg)
1	Apollo 15 S-IVB Mass	14,036 kg
2	Apollo 14 S-IVB Mass	14,016 kg
3	Apollo 16 S-IVB Mass	14,002 kg
4	Apollo 17 S-IVB Mass	13,960 kg
5	Apollo 13 S-IVB Mass	13,454 kg
6	Luna 2 Third stage of Vostok rocket Mass	9,100 kg
7	Luna 24 descent stage Mass	5,800 kg

Mass of spent stages and landers on the lunar surface, from the cited list. The total row is left out.

Sources