103P/Hartley 2 size and scale context

103P/Hartley 2 is the small, hyperactive comet that NASA's EPOXI mission flew past in 2010, revealing a peanut-shaped nucleus barely two kilometers long with jets of carbon-dioxide gas blasting chunks of ice into space. Read its scale context, comparisons, and journey links on the canonical object page.

65803 DidymosS-type binary near-Earth asteroid·851 m

152830 DinkineshSq-type binary main-belt asteroid·910 m

162173 RyuguCarbonaceous near-Earth asteroid·1 km

103P/Hartley 2Comet nucleus·2.3 km

MethoneSmall inner moon·3.88 km

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Between the smallest and the largest, perspective is everything.

About

Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.

Guides turn parts of that scale into curated essays, while focused views let you explore the same range through specific groups of objects.

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Between the smallest and the largest, perspective is everything.

About

Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.

Guides turn parts of that scale into curated essays, while focused views let you explore the same range through specific groups of objects.

Editorial

Solar System Planets From Electron to Atoms Stars To Scale Birth And Death Of Stars Black Holes To Scale

Views

Planets of the Solar System Stars of the Universe Black holes Subatomic scale

Open Scale of Space Browse all comparisons

Asteroids

162173 Ryugu

Ryugu is a dark carbon-rich asteroid explored by JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission. Its pristine returned samples contain amino acids and other organic molecules free from Earth contamination, giving researchers a cleaner look at prebiotic chemistry in the early Solar System.

Scale fact1 kmmaximum extent

Object class: Carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid
Mass: ~450 million tonnes
Estimated age: ~4.5 billion years
Composition: Carbon-rich rock and boulders

Comets

103P/Hartley 2

Scale fact2.3 kmmaximum extent

Object class: Comet nucleus
Mass: ~300 million tonnes
Host: Solar System
Estimated age: ~4.5 billion years
Composition: Water ice, dust, frozen carbon dioxide

Moons

Methone

Methone is a tiny, egg-shaped moon of Saturn with an unusually smooth surface, likely mantled in mobile, low-density icy material. It orbits between Mimas and Enceladus and helps supply the faint Methone Ring Arc with dust knocked loose by impacts.

Scale fact3.88 kmmaximum extent

Object class: Small inner moon
Composition: Low-density water ice and regolith
Mass: ~3.9 billion tonnes
Host: Saturn