02. How big is Earth? Is Earth the biggest planet? How many miles is Earth around the equator? How many miles is Earth around the poles? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

Earth is about 8,000 miles across from side to side, or 25,000 miles around the equator, which is pretty big—a modern jetliner takes nearly two days to fly around it. But an astronaut gets around it in only an hour and a half. There are bigger planets such as Jupiter, which is 11 times bigger than Earth. The Earth is almost a perfect sphere but is slightly flattened at the poles, so there is a difference of 25 miles in the diameter at the equator, and at the poles.

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Answer provided by Derek Webber

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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