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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.
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 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 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 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 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. ...
It's the same for the second- and third-closest planets, and the third- and fourth-closest planets. The two outermost planets complete an orbit in 41 and 54.7 days, resulting in four orbits for ...
The largest planet, Jupiter, is 0.09% the mass of the Sun, while the Earth is about three millionths (0.0003%) of the mass of the Sun. When comparing the planets among themselves, it is often convenient to use the mass of the Earth (M E or M E) as a standard, particularly for the terrestrial planets.