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These lists contain the Sun, the planets, dwarf planets, many of the larger small Solar System bodies (which includes the asteroids), all named natural satellites, and a number of smaller objects of historical or scientific interest, such as comets and near-Earth objects.
File:Sun, Earth size comparison labeled.jpg The sun and the earth. Size comparison only. The Earth and Sun are approximately 150 gigameters (1AU) or around 107 suns apart. File:Sun, Earth size comparison.jpg Without text Not for voting. The Earth and moon, shown to scale including correct relative distance. An amazing picture of the sun and the ...
The diurnal parallax of the Sun was accurately measured during the transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769, [5] yielding a value of 9″ (9 arcseconds, compared to the present value of 8.794 148 ″). From the value of the diurnal parallax, one can determine the distance to the Sun from the geometry of Earth. [6] [7]
Thus, the angular diameter of Earth's orbit around the Sun as viewed from a distance of 1 pc is 2″, as 1 AU is the mean radius of Earth's orbit. The angular diameter of the Sun, from a distance of one light-year, is 0.03″, and that of Earth 0.0003″. The angular diameter 0.03″ of the Sun given above is approximately the same as that of a ...
This is the nearest red giant to the Earth, and the fourth brightest star in the night sky. Pollux (β Geminorum) 9.06 ± 0.03 [96] AD The nearest giant star to the Earth. Spica (α Virginis A) 7.47 ± 0.54 [102] One of the nearest supernova candidates and the sixteenth-brightest star in the night sky. Regulus (α Leonis A) 4.16 × 3.14 [103]
Earth orbits the Sun, making Earth the third-closest planet to the Sun and part of the inner Solar System. Earth's average orbital distance is about 150 million km (93 million mi), which is the basis for the astronomical unit (AU) and is equal to roughly 8.3 light minutes or 380 times Earth's distance to the Moon .
This means that the Sun is (a mean of) 6 + 3 ⁄ 4 times wider than the Earth, or that the Sun is 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 Earth-radii wide. The Moon and Sun must then be 20 + 1 ⁄ 4 and 387 Earth-radii away from us in order to subtend an angular size of 2º.
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 ...