On: The size of the moon, relative to the Australian m...

[jessriedel]

> completely over the US and part of Canada.

No. Australia is large, but it is slightly less than the area of the continental US.

[ddeck → jessriedel]

In area terms that's true, but it does pretty much fit "over the US and part of Canada" as can be seen here:

https://www.aboutaustralia.com/australia-size-compared-to-us...

[jessriedel → ddeck]

You conveniently left out the word "completely" from the original statement.

[lisper → jessriedel]

  Area of Australia = 2.97M sq mi
  Area of USA = 3.78M sq mi
  Area of Europe = 3.92M sq mi
  Area of Canada = 3.85M sq mi

Ain't Google grand?

[Thorentis → lisper]

Yeah, the area of Australia is smaller. But in my OP I said "edge to edge" by which I meant (ambiguously, sorry) west to east edges. People don't realise driving from west coast to east coast US is the same distance as Australia.

[hydrox24 → lisper]

Area of mainland USA = 2.96M sq mi.

Area of mainland Australia = 2.93M sq mi.

I think this is the apples to apples comparison. Don't include Alaska or Tasmania, or Hawaii, which tend not to be what people are thinking of.

[mynegation → lisper]

Australia is overlaid on a map of contiguous 48 states and DC, and that area is about 3.12M square miles. Yes, google is grand