Insider: Weights and Measures: Scales

Data File Updated: Friday, May 09, 2025

Scales | Tech Level | Units of Measure

Here are some reference materials to aid with the visualization and perspective of the scales of objects and locations in Outsider. I plan to add as many diagrams and illustrations to this section as I can over time.

Useful Units of Measurement

Speed of light (in vacuum) = 299,792,458 meters per second
1 Light Second (LS) = 299,792 kilometers
1 Light Minute (LM) = 17,987,548 kilometers
1 Light Year (LY) = 9.46 x 10¹² kilometers
1 Parsec (Pc) = 3.26 light years
1 Astronomical Unit (AU) = 149,597,870.691 kilometers (8.3 LM)
1 Earth day = 86,400 seconds
1 Earth (tropical) year in 2000 A.D. = 365 days, 5 h, 48 m, 45 s (31,556,925 s)
1 Earth gravity (g) = 9.80665 m/s²
1 Newton (N) = 1 kg*m/s²
1 joule (J) = 1 Newton*meter

Conversions

1 mile = 5,280 ft = 1.6093 km
1 inch = 2.54 cm
1 foot = 0.3048 m
1 pound = .4536 kg
1 ounce = 28.35 g
1 kg = 2.2046 lbs.
1 knot = 1.151 mph = 1.852 km/h
1 gallon = 3.7853 liters
1 ton (short) = 2,000 pounds = 907.18 kg
1 metric ton = 1,000 kg = 1.102 short tons
1 Newton = 0.2248 pounds

Ship Size Classes

Object	Typical Length (m)	Typical Mass (kilotons)	Typical Max Thrust (g)*	Typical Crew	Examples
Torpedo, Buoy*	15	0.035	40-60	0	MR Torpedo
Fighter, Shuttle, Blister, DefSat*	30	0.250	40	0-4	Arrow
Gunboat	80	20	35	20	Umiak Gunboat
Frigate, Scout	150	50	35	100	Herald
Destroyer, Listening Post*	200	100	30	200	Warhammer
Cruiser, Base Station*	400	300	28	350	Scimitar
Battleship, Battlecruiser, Battle Station*	600	1,000	26	600	Greatsword
Flagship, Superheavy	800	2,000	24	1,000	Cry of the Wind
Ultraheavy	1600	9,000	18	?	TTK
Citadel*	800-4,000	2,000-25,000	<5	?	Azimol Citadel
Orbital Platform*	(any)	(any)	<1	?	Mepona Station

System Defense craft are spacecraft with no jump drive and only minimal propulsion, so the "max thrust" value is usually <5g.

Planetary Environment

Note: The sizes of the Earth and Moon in (Fig.V) are to scale with the distances between them. The ship icons are not to scale.

Earth Diameter: 12,756 km
Marth Mass: 5.972 x 10^24 kg
Mt. Everest Altitude: 8.8 km
Stratosphere Altitude: 50 km
Exosphere Altitude: 300 km
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Altitude: 300-800 km
International Space Station Altitude: ~350 km
Hubble Space Telescope Altitude: ~560 km

Geostationary Orbit (GEO): Altitude 35,786 km (orbital radius 42,164 km)
Chandra X-ray Observatory Max Altitude: ~126,000 km (orbital apogee ~133,000 km)
Maximum Beam Weapon Range: ~300,000 km (~1 Light Second)
Earth-Moon Lagrange-1 Orbital Radius: 326,000 km (58,400 km from the Moon)
Moon Orbital Radius: 384,400 km
Moon Diameter: 3,476 km
Moon Surface Gravity: 0.17g
Moon Mass: 7.35 x 10^22 kg (1.2% of Earth's mass)

Solar System

Note: The sizes of the Sun and the planets in (Fig.VI) are NOT to scale, but the distances are. The jump zone indicates appropriate distance from the Sun (4-5 AU) but not location; the Alpha Centauri jump zone is well below the plane of the planets.

Object	Mean Distance from the Sun			Diameter (km)	Mass (Earth = 1)	Orbital Period (Earth years)	Rotation Period (Earth Days)	Axial Tilt (°)	Surface Gravity (g)
Object	km	AU	LM	Diameter (km)	Mass (Earth = 1)	Orbital Period (Earth years)	Rotation Period (Earth Days)	Axial Tilt (°)	Surface Gravity (g)
Sun	0	0	0	1,392,000	332,918	-	25.05	7.25	28
Mercury	57,920,000	0.387	3.2	4,878	0.055	0.24	58.65	.027	0.38
Venus	108,208,000	0.723	6.0	12,104	0.815	0.62	-243	2.64	0.9
Earth	149,597,871	1.0	8.3	12,756	1.0	1.0	1.0	23.5	1.0
Moon	-	-	-	3,476	0.0128	8.85	27.322	1.54	0.17
Mars	228,089,000	1.524	12.7	6,794	0.107	1.88	1.03	25.19	0.38
Ceres	418,832,587	2.766	23	487	0.00015	4.6	0.3781	~4	0.028
Asteroid Belt	~419,000,000	~2.8	~23	-	-	-	-	-	-
Jupiter	778,706,000	5.203	43.2	142,987	318	11.86	0.41	3.13	2.64
Saturn	1,427,653,000	9.539	79.1	120,536	95	29.46	0.44	26.73	0.93
Uranus	2,870,573,000	19.18	159.2	51,118	15	84.01	-0.72	97.77	0.89
Neptune	4,498,927,000	30.06	249.5	49,528	17	164.8	0.72	28.32	1.12
Pluto	5,902,784,000	39.44	327.4	2,370	0.0022	247.7	-6.38	60.39	0.06
Kuiper Belt	~6,000,000,000	~40	~332	-	-	-	-	-	-
Haumea	6,452,000,000	43.13	357.9	1,436	0.00066	283.3	0.163	~110	0.045
Makemake	6,850,000,000	45.79	380.1	1,478	0.0005	309.9	0.324	~20	0.038
Eris	10,120,000,000	68	564	~2,300	0.0028	560.9	1.01	~40	0.08
Sedna	7.7576 x 10¹⁰	518	4,300	~1,500	~0.0005	~11,400	0.42	?	~0.04
Oort Cloud	~1.5 x 10¹³	~60,000	~500,000	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: the orbits of Pluto, Sedna and other trans-Neptunian objects are highly eccentric. Pluto's orbit varies from 30 to 49 AU, and Sedna's varies from 76 to 937 AU.

Note: The orbits above are to scale, but not the size of the planets. Image by NASA.

Note: The distance scale above is exponential, and the size of the Sun & planets is not to scale. Image by NASA.

Heliopause (boundary between solar wind and interstellar medium): 100 AU
Bow Shock (wake caused by the travel of the Sun through the interstellar medium): 230 AU
Distance to Voyager 1 from the Sun (as of June 2014): 128 AU (17.7 Light Hours), in the Interstellar Medium
Distance to Alpha Centauri: 4.37 LY = 271,900 AU

Interstellar

Note: Jump distances (in green) are in Light Years.

Object	Type	Distance (LY)	Mass (Sol = 1)	Radius (Sol = 1)	Luminosity (Sol = 1)	Age (Gyr)	Orbital Period* (Earth years)	Notes
Sol	G2V	0	1	1	1	4.6	-
Alpha Centauri A	G2V	4.37	1.100	1.227	1.519	6	79.9	Binary
Alpha Centauri B	K1V	4.37	0.907	0.865	0.500	6	79.9	Binary
Proxima Centauri	M5.5Ve	4.24	0.123	0.141	0.0017	4.85	547,000**	Flare Star
Barnard's Star	M4Ve	5.98	0.144	0.196	0.0035	10	-
Wolf 359	M6.5e	7.78	0.09	0.16	0.00002	0.1-0.35	-
Lalande 21185	M2V	8.31	0.46	0.393	0.025	5-10	-
Sirius A	A1V	8.60	2.02	1.711	25.4	0.2-0.3	50.09	Binary
Sirius B	DA2	8.60	0.978	0.0084	0.026	?	50.09	White Dwarf
Luyten 726-8A	M5.5V	8.73	0.102	0.14	0.00006	?	26.52	BL Ceti
Luyten 726-8B	M6V	8.73	0.100	0.14	0.00004	?	26.52	UV Ceti
Epsilon Eridani	K2V	10.49	0.82	0.735	0.34	0.2-0.8	-
Ross 128	M4V	10.89	0.15	0.21	0.00036	?	-	Flare Star
61 Cygni A	K5V	11.41	0.70	0.665	0.153	6.1	678	Binary
62 Cygni B	K7V	11.41	0.63	0.595	0.085	6.1	678	Binary
Tau Ceti	G8V	11.9	0.783	0.793	0.52	5.8	-
LHS 1565	M5.5V	11.99	0.113	?	~0.001	?	-	GJ 1061
YZ Ceti	M4.5V	12.0	?	?	?	?	-	Flare Star
Kapteyn's Star	sdM1	12.76	0.274	0.291	0.001	~10	-
Van Maanen's Star	DZ8	13.9	0.68	0.011	0.00017	3.13	-	White Dwarf
Wolf 424 A	dM6e	14.3	0.143	0.17	?	?	15.5	Flare Star
Wolf 424 B	dM6e	14.3	0.131	0.14	?	?	15.5	Flare Star
Hip 15689	M4V	16.9	0.15	0.2	?	?	-
LP 944-20	M9	18.5	0.07	?	?	?	-	Brown Dwarf
82 Eridani	G8V	19.71	0.70	0.92	0.74	6.1	-

Note: *Orbital Period is listed for binary systems. **Proxima Centauri is the third component of the Alpha Centauri system.

Distance from Sol to Naam: 217 LY (60 parsecs)
Distance to Pleiades cluster (on the other side of Loroi space): 425 LY (130 parsecs)
Width of the Local Bubble: ~1000 LY (~300 parsecs)

Galactic

Thickness of galactic disk in Orion arm: <1,500 LY (<500 parsecs)
Density of stars in the local region: 0.120 stars/cubic parsec
Distance from Sol to the Galactic Center: ~30,000 LY (~9,000 parsecs)