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Parts-per-million chart of the relative mass distribution of the Solar System, each cubelet denoting 2 × 10 24 kg. This article includes a list of the most massive known objects of the Solar System and partial lists of smaller objects by observed mean radius.
Size comparison of the Sun, all the planets of the Solar System and some larger stars. The Sun is 1.4 million kilometers (4.643 light-seconds) wide, about 109 times wider than Earth, or four times the Lunar distance, and contains 99.86% of all Solar System mass.
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. ...
The Andromeda Galaxy is approximately 2.5 million light-years away. 3 × 10 6 ly: The Triangulum Galaxy , at about 3 million light-years away, is the most distant object visible to the naked eye. 5.9 × 10 7 ly: The nearest large galaxy cluster, the Virgo Cluster, is about 59 million light-years away. 1.5 × 10 8 – 2.5 × 10 8 ly
The Sun is currently 5–30 parsecs (16–98 ly) above, or north of, the central plane of the Galactic disk. [104] The distance between the local arm and the next arm out, the Perseus Arm, is about 2,000 parsecs (6,500 ly). [105] The Sun, and thus the Solar System, is located in the Milky Way's galactic habitable zone. [106] [107]
The observable universe contains as many as an estimated 2 trillion galaxies [36] [37] [38] and, overall, as many as an estimated 10 24 stars [39] [40] – more stars (and, potentially, Earth-like planets) than all the grains of beach sand on planet Earth. [41] [42] [43] Other estimates are in the hundreds of billions rather than trillions.
The metallicity of Vega's photosphere is only about 32% of the abundance of heavy elements in the Sun's atmosphere. [note 2] (Compare this, for example, to a threefold metallicity abundance in the similar star Sirius as compared to the Sun.) For comparison, the Sun has an abundance of elements heavier than helium of about Z Sol = 0.0172 ± 0. ...
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 ...