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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 astronomical unit of mass is the solar mass. [1] The symbol M ☉ is often used to refer to this unit. The solar mass (M ☉), 1.988 92 × 10 30 kg, is a standard way to express mass in astronomy, used to describe the masses of other stars and galaxies.
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 ...
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 principal component of the Solar System is the Sun, a G-type main-sequence star that contains 99.86% of the system's known mass and dominates it gravitationally. [37] The Sun's four largest orbiting bodies, the giant planets, account for 99% of the remaining mass, with Jupiter and Saturn together comprising more than 90%.
Stellar mass is a phrase that is used by astronomers to describe the mass of a star. It is usually enumerated in terms of the Sun 's mass as a proportion of a solar mass ( M ☉ ). Hence, the bright star Sirius has around 2.02 M ☉ . [ 1 ]
However, the names of all SI mass units are based on gram, rather than on kilogram; thus 10 3 kg is a megagram (10 6 g), not a *kilokilogram. The tonne (t) is an SI-compatible unit of mass equal to a megagram (Mg), or 10 3 kg. The unit is in common use for masses above about 10 3 kg and is often used with SI prefixes.
We can convert a mass expressed in kilograms to the equivalent mass expressed in metres by multiplying by the conversion factor G/c 2. For example, the Sun's mass of 2.0 × 10 30 kg in SI units is equivalent to 1.5 km. This is half the Schwarzschild radius of a one solar mass black hole. All other conversion factors can be worked out by ...