Grand Canyon (Earth)
446 km (277.1 mi)
Length along the river
Arizona's canyon, seen from above and measured along the Colorado River. 446 km (277 miles) long, from Lees Ferry to the Grand Wash Cliffs.
Published
How big is that?
446 km is 50 times Mount Everest and 13% of the Moon.
Grand Canyon is the 17th smallest of the 39 Cosmic Scale objects, and the 23rd largest of the 109 objects across all three SizeItUp games.
Size comparison
To scale, smallest to largest: Grand Canyon in orange beside the Cosmic Scale objects nearest in size, in teal.
| Object | Size | vs Grand Canyon |
|---|---|---|
| Olympus Mons (Mars)The tallest volcano in the Solar System. Its real slopes are far gentler; only the height counts here. | 21.2 km tall | 5% of the size |
| Phobos (Moon of Mars)A lumpy little moon. Measured along its longest side. | 26 km long | 6% of the size |
| Grand Canyon (Earth) | 446 km long | – |
| Vesta (Asteroid)One of the biggest asteroids, with a giant crater near its south pole. | 522.77 km across | 1.2× bigger |
| Ceres (Dwarf planet)The biggest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. | 939.4 km across | 2.1× bigger |
In other units
| Metres | 446,000 |
|---|---|
| Kilometres | 446 |
| Feet | 1,463,000 |
| Yards | 487,800 |
| Miles | 277.1 |
How it's measured
Length along the river. National Park Service.
Sources
- nps.gov: Grand Canyon is 277 miles / 446 km long.
Checked against the source on .
Could you have guessed it by eye?
Grand Canyon is one of the objects in Cosmic Scale, a daily size comparison game: you stretch a shape to the size you think is right beside one you know.