Tethys size and scale context

Tethys is a bright icy moon of Saturn, marked by the huge Odysseus crater and a great valley system called Ithaca Chasma. Its low density and high reflectivity point to a body made mostly of water ice. Read its scale context, comparisons, and journey links on the canonical object page.

EnceladusIcy ocean moon·500 km

CeresDwarf planet·940 km

TethysBright icy moon·1,066 km

IapetusTwo-toned icy moon·1,470 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

Dwarf planets

Ceres

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt and the smallest recognized dwarf planet. NASA’s Dawn mission showed that its brightest spots are salt deposits left by briny water rising from below, revealing Ceres as a surprisingly active water-rich world.

Scale fact940 kmmean diameter

Object class: Dwarf planet
Mass: ~0.00016 Earth masses
Host: Sun
Estimated age: ~4.56 billion years
Composition: Rock and water ice
Temperature: ~167 K mean surface

Moons

Tethys

Scale fact1,066 kmmean diameter

Object class: Bright icy moon
Host: Saturn
Composition: Mostly water ice with a small amount of rock
Temperature: ~86 K average surface

Moons

Iapetus

Iapetus is Saturn's third-largest moon and one of its strangest, with a bright trailing hemisphere and a dark leading hemisphere. Its slow rotation, distant orbit, and giant equatorial ridge make it a moon defined by contrast.

Scale fact1,470 kmdiameter

Object class: Two-toned icy moon
Host: Saturn
Composition: Water ice and rock with dark carbon-rich surface material