How big is it really?
We all know that space is big, yeah... But not everything in space is quite a big as you think it is. The moon, for example, has a diameter of 3476 kilometres, but if you cut a slice out from its equator and laid it on top of Alice Springs, for example, bits of Western Australia and the east coast would still poke out the top from underneath it.
We know this because the BBC has just launched a new mini site called Dimensions. This is another way to seriously waste some time on the internet, but as with all the best internet time wasters it opens up your eyes. In this case to the relative size of things. This is the route the Mars Rover would have travelled if it set out from the centre of Melbourne:
It's also interesting to know that the Great Wall of China would actually fit into Australia:
But the leg span of the Colossus of Rhodes less impressive than it sounds when you see it laid over the Opera House:
You can also compare the relative size of some recent environmental disasters. It's harder than you think to totally wipe out Tasmania...
If you have a kid this is school project gold. Otherwise you're just going to have to pretend to your workmates that it's research of some kind - possibly the distruction of Tasmania... But it is fascinating. Another really cool way of mashing up movable maps online.
