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  2. Solar radius - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_radius

    Evolution of the solar luminosity, radius and effective temperature compared to the present-day Sun. After Ribas (2009) [3] The uncrewed SOHO spacecraft was used to measure the radius of the Sun by timing transits of Mercury across the surface during 2003 and 2006. The result was a measured radius of 696,342 ± 65 kilometres (432,687 ± 40 miles).

  3. Solar irradiance - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_irradiance

    The Sun's rays are attenuated as they pass through the atmosphere, leaving maximum normal surface irradiance at approximately 1000 W/m 2 at sea level on a clear day. When 1361 W/m 2 is arriving above the atmosphere (when the Sun is at the zenith in a cloudless sky), direct sun is about 1050 W/m 2 , and global radiation on a horizontal surface ...

  4. Solar constant - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_constant

    The angular diameter of the Earth as seen from the Sun is approximately 1/11,700 radians (about 18 arcseconds), meaning the solid angle of the Earth as seen from the Sun is approximately 1/175,000,000 of a steradian. Thus the Sun emits about 2.2 billion times the amount of radiation that is caught by Earth, in other words about 3.846×10 26 watts.

  5. Astronomical unit - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit

    where G is the Newtonian constant of gravitation, M ☉ is the solar mass, k is the numerical value of Gaussian gravitational constant and D is the time period of one day. [1] The Sun is constantly losing mass by radiating away energy, [54] so the orbits of the planets are steadily expanding outward from the Sun. This has led to calls to ...

  6. Sunlight - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunlight

    If the extraterrestrial solar radiation is 1,367 watts per square meter (the value when the Earth–Sun distance is 1 astronomical unit), then the direct sunlight at Earth's surface when the Sun is at the zenith is about 1,050 W/m 2, but the total amount (direct and indirect from the atmosphere) hitting the ground is around 1,120 W/m 2. [6]

  7. Solar luminosity - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_luminosity

    Evolution of the solar luminosity, radius and effective temperature compared to the present-day Sun. After Ribas (2010) [1] The solar luminosity (L ☉) is a unit of radiant flux (power emitted in the form of photons) conventionally used by astronomers to measure the luminosity of stars, galaxies and other celestial objects in terms of the output of the Sun.

  8. Radiation pressure - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_pressure

    This result is in pascals, equivalent to N/m 2 (newtons per square meter). For a sheet at an angle α to the Sun, the effective area A of a sheet is reduced by a geometrical factor resulting in a force in the direction of the sunlight of: = (⁡).

  9. Solar mass - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_mass

    332 946 M E ; 1 047.35 M J (Jupiter mass) It is also frequently useful in general relativity to express mass in units of length or time. M ☉ G / c 2 ≈ 1.48 km (half the Schwarzschild radius of the Sun) M ☉ G / c 3 ≈ 4.93 μs; The solar mass parameter (G·M ☉), as listed by the IAU Division I Working Group, has the following estimates ...