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For the purpose of measurement, the Sun's radius is considered to be the distance from its center to the edge of the photosphere, the apparent visible surface of the Sun. [40] By this measure, the Sun is a near-perfect sphere with an oblateness estimated at 9 millionths, [41] [42] [43] which means that its polar diameter differs from its ...
If the Sun–Neptune distance is scaled to 100 metres (330 ft), then the Sun would be about 3 cm (1.2 in) in diameter (roughly two-thirds the diameter of a golf ball), the giant planets would be all smaller than about 3 mm (0.12 in), and Earth's diameter along with that of the other terrestrial planets would be smaller than a flea (0.3 mm or 0. ...
Proposition 6 states that the Moon moves [in an orbit] lower than [that of] the Sun, and, when it is halved, is distant less than a quadrant from the Sun (Heath 1913:372). Proposition 7 states that the distance of the Sun from the Earth is greater than 18 times, but less than 20 times, the distance of the Moon from the Earth (Heath 1913:377 ...
The astronomical unit (symbol: au[1][2][3][4] or AU) is a unit of length defined to be exactly equal to 149,597,870,700 m. [5] Historically, the astronomical unit was conceived as the average Earth-Sun distance (the average of Earth's aphelion and perihelion), before its modern redefinition in 2012. The astronomical unit is used primarily for ...
Solar radius is a unit of distance used to express the size of stars in astronomy relative to the Sun. The solar radius is usually defined as the radius to the layer in the Sun 's photosphere where the optical depth equals 2/3: [1] 695,700 kilometres (432,300 miles) is approximately 10 times the average radius of Jupiter, 109 times the radius ...
Earth's orbit. Earth orbits the Sun at an average distance of 149.60 million km (92.96 million mi), or 8.317 light-minutes, [1] in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from above the Northern Hemisphere. One complete orbit takes 365.256 days (1 sidereal year), during which time Earth has traveled 940 million km (584 million mi). [2]
The exact distance between the Solar System and the Galactic Center is not certain, [14] although estimates since 2000 have remained within the range 24–28.4 kilolight-years (7.4–8.7 kiloparsecs). [15] The latest estimates from geometric-based methods and standard candles yield the following distances to the Galactic Center:
The position of the Sun in the sky is a function of both the time and the geographic location of observation on Earth 's surface. As Earth orbits the Sun over the course of a year, the Sun appears to move with respect to the fixed stars on the celestial sphere, along a circular path called the ecliptic. Earth's rotation about its axis causes ...