A Brilliant Animation Showing How Far a Thrown Ball Would Travel on Other Planets in Our Solar System

Dr. James O’Donoghue, a planetary astronomer at JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) who previously created a brilliant animation in which a ball was dropped from 1000 meters (3,280.8 feet) to the surface of each planet in order to demonstrate their varying gravitational pulls, created a similarly fascinating animation that imagines how far a thrown ball would travel on each planet, as well as both Pluto and the Earth’s Moon. He noted that the longest traveling ball would be on Pluto.

For maximum range, throw at 45 degrees… on Pluto.

How Far Can a Ball Be Thrown on Other Planets

O’Donoghue also did a bit of polling to find out the fastest ball throwers and how far their respective throws would go on the moon.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.