Is Australia really bigger than the moon? It depends on the reference parameter

l'Australia It is a vast country: it covers an area of 7,688,000 km², it is 25 times larger than Italy and the sixth largest state in the world (Russia being the largest at 17,100,000 km²). Because of its similar dimensions, it is sometimes considered a continent rather than an island in Oceania. On the other hand, if we consider it as an island, it undoubtedly is The largest island on the planet. But how can it be bigger than the moon?

First of all, it should be clarified that “large” is a very relative concept as far as body dimensions are concerned. According to different parameters.

Australia really is bigger than the moon”diameter»: It is, in essence, more Broad. In a longitudinal view, therefore From west to eastThe width of the Australian territory is approx 4000 km. The diameter of the moon is approx 3400 km. So a two-dimensional orthogonal projection of our satellite on an imaginary plane 600 km “shorter” than Australia.

A comparison of the two changes the situation surface. As already mentioned, Australia has an area of ​​approx 7.7 million km²The Moon, a three-dimensional body approximately a ballIt has a remarkably large surface area and is almost flat 37.9 million km² (5 times less than Australia).

In conclusion, Australia can be said to be larger than the Moon if we consider its width in relation to its diameter, but from the point of view of the surface there is no comparison: our satellite is much larger.