Hubble Space Telescope
13.2 m (43.31 ft)
Length
The telescope in orbit since 1990, about the size of a bus. Length: 13.2 m (43.5 ft).
Published
How big is that?
13.2 m is 7.5 times an adult man and 49% of a blue whale.
Hubble Space Telescope is the 4th smallest of the 39 Cosmic Scale objects, and the 54th smallest of the 109 objects across all three SizeItUp games.
Closest in size from the other games: Titanoboa (Prehistoric Giants), 13 m long and Giraffatitan (Berlin skeleton) (Prehistoric Giants), 13.27 m tall.
Size comparison
To scale, smallest to largest: Hubble Space Telescope in orange beside the Cosmic Scale objects nearest in size, in teal.
| Object | Size | vs Hubble Space Telescope |
|---|---|---|
| Voyager's dish (High-gain antenna)The antenna that still talks to Earth from interstellar space. | 3.66 m across | 28% of the size |
| Apollo Lunar ModuleThe spidery lander that carried astronauts to the Moon's surface, legs extended. | 7.04 m tall | 53% of the size |
| Hubble Space Telescope | 13.2 m long | – |
| James Webb Space Telescope (Sunshield)The tennis-court-sized sunshield that keeps Webb cold, measured along its long side. | 21.197 m | 1.6× bigger |
| Space Shuttle orbiter (Without the fuel tank)NASA's reusable spaceplane, measured nose to tail. | 37.2 m long | 2.8× bigger |
In other units
| Centimetres | 1,320 |
|---|---|
| Metres | 13.2 |
| Inches | 519.7 |
| Feet | 43.31 |
| Yards | 14.44 |
How it's measured
Length. NASA.
Sources
- science.nasa.gov: Length 43.5 feet (13.2 m).
Checked against the source on .
Could you have guessed it by eye?
Hubble Space Telescope 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.