When it comes to astronomical objects, scales become so big that they can get very confusing and hard to process. So it is natural to not be able to visualize correctly the size and distances of planets and other celestial bodies.
Comparing Earth to other planets is a good way to get an idea of how large or how small an object is.
So, in this article, we’ll compare the sizes of our planet with Jupiter and answer the question that gives its title to this post, Is Jupiter bigger than Earth?
Is Jupiter bigger than Earth?
Yes. Jupiter is much bigger than Earth. If you were to line up 11 Earths side by side you would only cover the width of Jupiter once. That means that in volume, you could fit 1,300 Earths into just one Jupiter. That’s quite impressive.
Jupiter is, as a matter of fact, the biggest planet in the Solar system, and that includes Earth. If you order the planets of the Solar system by size, Earth is only the fifth biggest planet. It is smaller than all of the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune).
The following table lists all of the eight planets ordered by size.
| Planet | Radius |
|---|---|
| Jupiter | 69,911 km (43,441 miles) |
| Saturn | 58,232 km (36,184 miles) |
| Uranus | 25,362 km (15,759 miles) |
| Neptune | 24,622 km (15,299 miles) |
| Earth | 6,371 km (3,959 miles) |
| Venus | 6,052 km (3,760 miles) |
| Mars | 3,390 km (2,106 miles) |
| Mercury | 2,440 km (1,516 miles) |
The radius of a planet is the distance from the center of the planet to its widest points if you were to look at it from space.
The following image shows the side-by-side comparison of the sizes of Earth and Jupiter and the radius of each. It should better illustrate the large size difference between both planets.
How big are Jupiter and Earth
Earth
| Radius | 6,371 km (3,959 miles) |
| Diameter | 12,742 (7,918 miles) |
Jupiter
| Radius | 69,911 km (43,441 miles) |
| Diameter | 139,822 (86,882 miles) |
The diameter is the distance across the width of the planet through its center, or two times the radius.
Learn more
We have an in-depth article about the differences and similarities between Earth and Jupiter if you want to check it out.
Summary
- Jupiter is much bigger than Earth
- Jupiter is 11 times wider than Earth and you could fit Earth 1,300 times into Jupiter
- Jupiter is the biggest planet in the Solar system. Earth is the fifth largest (out of eight)
