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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 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 ...
For example, if a TNO is incorrectly assumed to have a mass of 3.59 × 10 20 kg based on a radius of 350 km with a density of 2 g/cm 3 but is later discovered to have a radius of only 175 km with a density of 0.5 g/cm 3, its true mass would be only 1.12 × 10 19 kg.
Thus, the Sun occupies 0.00001% (1 part in 10 7) of the volume of a sphere with a radius the size of Earth's orbit, whereas Earth's volume is roughly 1 millionth (10 −6) that of the Sun. Jupiter, the largest planet, is 5.2 AU from the Sun and has a radius of 71,000 km (0.00047 AU; 44,000 mi), whereas the most distant planet, Neptune, is 30 AU ...
An Earth mass (denoted as M 🜨, M ♁ or M E, where 🜨 and ♁ are the astronomical symbols for Earth), is a unit of mass equal to the mass of the planet Earth. The current best estimate for the mass of Earth is M 🜨 = 5.9722 × 10 24 kg, with a relative uncertainty of 10 −4. [2] It is equivalent to an average density of 5515 kg/m 3.
It is approximately equal to the mean Earth–Sun distance. It was formerly defined as that length for which the Gaussian gravitational constant (k) takes the value 0.017 202 098 95 when the units of measurement are the astronomical units of length, mass and time. [1] The dimensions of k 2 are those of the constant of gravitation (G), i.e., L 3 ...
Motion of the Solar System's barycenter relative to the Sun. A primary body – also called a central body, host body, gravitational primary, or simply primary – is the main physical body of a gravitationally bound, multi-object system. This object constitutes most of that system's mass and will generally be located near the system's barycenter.
At this rate, the Sun has so far converted around 100 times the mass of Earth into energy, about 0.03% of the total mass of the Sun. The Sun will spend a total of approximately 10 to 11 billion years as a main-sequence star before the red giant phase of the Sun. [ 135 ] At the 8 billion year mark, the Sun will be at its hottest point according ...