Ganymede vs Titan
Ganymede (5,268 km) is 1.02× the size of Titan (5,149 km).
Titan is 98% of the height of Ganymede. The gap between them is 119 km (389,764 ft).
The comparison in numbers
| Thing | Size | In feet | Measured as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ganymede | 5,268 km | 17,284,121 ft | diameter |
| Titan | 5,149 km | 16,894,357 ft | diameter |
What the scale shows
Ganymede (5,268 km) is 1.02× the size of Titan (5,149 km). The gap between them is 119 km (389,764 ft). Both are planets & moons, so the figures describe the same kind of thing.
Draw both on one baseline and the smaller one fills 98% of the frame while the larger one runs to the top. The two are close enough that the difference is easy to see side by side.
Read the rest — 8 more sections
What each figure means
The figure for Ganymede is its diameter (mean diameter). The figure for Titan is its diameter (mean diameter).
Crossing them
At a jet's 900 km/h, Ganymede's 5,268 km would take 5.9 hours and Titan's 5,149 km would take 5.7 hours.
In people: Ganymede is 3,098,941 adults of 1.7 m tall, Titan is 3,029,058.8. By size Ganymede is 9th of the 16 planets & moons on this site and Titan is 10th, so 1 place separates them in the ranking.
How to read these two figures
Before trusting any comparison, check what each number measures. Ganymede is given as a diameter, mean diameter. Titan is given as a diameter, mean diameter. Both are diameter figures, so putting them on one baseline is a like-for-like comparison, although the exact individual or convention still matters.
Worlds are listed by diameter. Gas giants are not round, so equatorial diameter is used for them and mean diameter for the rest. All figures are rounded from published mission data.
Where the pair sits among all the sizes here
Across all 86 things on this site, Ganymede is number 9 from the top and Titan is number 10. No other item falls between them, so in this collection they are direct neighbours.
Because the collection spans 13 mm up to 1,392,700 km, a ratio of 107,130,769,231× from smallest to largest, the position of a pair says a lot: both sit in the upper third of the list.
What the length ratio hides
A length ratio of 1.02× is easy to picture, but area and volume grow faster than length. If two objects had exactly the same shape, Ganymede would have about 1.05× the surface or footprint of Titan, and about 1.07× the volume. These two are not the same shape, so treat the figures as an upper bound for an imaginary scaled copy, not as a measurement of either one.
The drawing above shows length only. Titan is drawn 98% as tall as Ganymede, but the equivalent share of footprint would be only 95.5%, which is why the smaller one looks even slighter than the numbers alone suggest.
Time to cross each one
Light travels at 299,792,458 m/s, so it crosses Ganymede (5,268 km) in 18 milliseconds and Titan (5,149 km) in 17 milliseconds. A jet at 900 km/h would take 5.9 hours for the larger and 5.7 hours for the smaller.
These times assume a straight line and constant speed, which no real crossing has, but they turn a number in metres into something the body understands. At any fixed speed the travel times keep the same 1.02× ratio as the sizes.
The same figures in other units
Ganymede measures 5,268 km, which is 17,284,121 ft or 3,273.5 miles. Titan measures 5,149 km, which is 16,894,357 ft or 3,199.69 miles.
The difference between them is 119 km (389,764 ft). In kilometres the smaller one is 5,149.4 against 5,268.2, so the 1.02× ratio holds in every unit; only the numbers on the ruler change.
Questions people ask about this pair
Which is bigger, Ganymede or Titan?
Ganymede is bigger. At 5,268 km it is 1.02× the size of Titan, which is 5,149 km.
How many times does Titan fit along Ganymede?
Less than twice: Titan is 98% of the size of Ganymede, so one fits with 119 km to spare.
Are the two figures measured the same way?
Yes in kind: both are diameter figures. Ganymede is mean diameter; Titan is mean diameter.
How does the gap look in people?
Taking an adult of 1.7 m, Ganymede is about 3,098,941 people tall and Titan is about 3,029,058.8. The gap of 119 km is 69,882 people.
Where do the numbers come from?
Each item has its own page that names the measurement and links to the Wikipedia article it was taken from. Some figures are rounded, and animals vary from one individual to the next, so treat them as representative values rather than records for every case.
How the sizes are taken. Each figure says what it measures — height, length, diameter or elevation — and for which individual or convention. Everything is drawn standing upright on one baseline so a single scale holds, including things that are long rather than tall. Values come from the linked Wikipedia article for each item.