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The solar mass (M ☉) is a standard unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately 2 × 10 30 kg (2 nonillion kilograms in US short scale). It is approximately equal to the mass of the Sun. It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxies and black holes. More precisely, the mass of the ...
The Sun is 1.4 million kilometers (4.643 light-seconds) wide, about 109 times wider than Earth, or four times the Lunar distance, and contains 99.86% of all Solar System mass. The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star that makes up about 99.86% of the mass of the Solar System. [26]
Parts-per-million chart of the relative mass distribution of the Solar System, each cubelet denoting 2 × 10 24 kg. This article includes a list of the most massive known objects of the Solar System and partial lists of smaller objects by observed mean radius. These lists can be sorted according to an object's radius and mass and, for the most ...
Over 99.86% of the Solar System's mass is in the Sun and nearly 90% of the remaining mass is in Jupiter and Saturn. There is a strong consensus among astronomers [e] that the Solar System has at least nine dwarf planets: Ceres, Orcus, Pluto, Haumea, Quaoar, Makemake, Gonggong, Eris, and Sedna.
The choice of solar mass, M ☉, as the basic unit for planetary mass comes directly from the calculations used to determine planetary mass.In the most precise case, that of the Earth itself, the mass is known in terms of solar masses to twelve significant figures: the same mass, in terms of kilograms or other Earth-based units, is only known to five significant figures, which is less than a ...
The mass/luminosity relation is important because it can be used to find the distance to binary systems which are too far for normal parallax measurements, using a technique called "dynamical parallax". [8] In this technique, the masses of the two stars in a binary system are estimated, usually in terms of the mass of the Sun.
M is the mass of the primary body (i.e., the Sun), m is the mass of the secondary body (i.e., a planet), and; p is the semi-parameter (the semi-latus rectum) of the body's orbit. Note that every variable in the above equations is a constant for two-body motion. Combining these two definitions,
In modern academic writing, the Sun symbol is used for astronomical constants relating to the Sun. [10] T eff☉ represents the solar effective temperature, and the luminosity, mass, and radius of stars are often represented using the corresponding solar constants (L ☉, M ☉, and R ☉, respectively) as units of measurement. [11] [12] [13] [14]