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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]
The size of solid bodies does not include an object's atmosphere. For example, Titan looks bigger than Ganymede, but its solid body is smaller. For the giant planets , the "radius" is defined as the distance from the center at which the atmosphere reaches 1 bar of atmospheric pressure.
He reasoned that it was a giant flaming ball of metal even larger than the land of the Peloponnesus and that the Moon reflected the light of the Sun. [176] Eratosthenes estimated the distance between Earth and the Sun in the third century BC as "of stadia myriads 400 and 80000", the translation of which is ambiguous, implying either 4,080,000 ...
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 ...
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. ...
Earth's density varies considerably, between less than 2700 kg/m 3 in the upper crust to as much as 13 000 kg/m 3 in the inner core. [13] The Earth's core accounts for 15% of Earth's volume but more than 30% of the mass, the mantle for 84% of the volume and close to 70% of the mass, while the crust accounts for less than 1% of the mass. [13]
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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 .