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The heliocentric ecliptic system describes the planets' orbital movement around the Sun, and centers on the barycenter of the Solar System (i.e. very close to the center of the Sun). The system is primarily used for computing the positions of planets and other Solar System bodies, as well as defining their orbital elements.
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 ...
The apex of the Sun's way, or the solar apex, is the direction that the Sun travels through space in the Milky Way. The general direction of the Sun's Galactic motion is towards the star Vega near the constellation of Hercules, at an angle of roughly 60 sky degrees to the direction of the Galactic Center. The Sun's orbit about the Milky Way is ...
The Sun's orbital radius is roughly 8,600 parsecs, or slightly over halfway to the galactic edge. One orbital period of the Solar System lasts between 225 and 250 million years. [34] [35] Milky Way Galaxy: 30,000 pc 9.26×10 17: Our home galaxy, composed of 200 billion to 400 billion stars and filled with the interstellar medium. [36] [37 ...
From planetary meet-ups to the first total lunar eclipse in three years, here are the top astronomy events to look for throughout 2025: Stellar views of Mars will greet stargazers in January as ...
NASA's Juno spacecraft captured this view of Jupiter during the mission's 54th close flyby of the giant planet Sept. 7, 2023. ... as Earth’s orbit swings our planet between Jupiter and the sun ...
Quadrants are described using ordinals—for example, "1st galactic quadrant", [1] "second galactic quadrant", [2] or "third quadrant of the Galaxy". [3] Viewing from the north galactic pole with 0 degrees (°) as the ray that runs starting from the Sun and through the galactic center, the quadrants are as follows (where l is galactic longitude):
Artist's depiction of the Milky Way Galaxy showing the origin and orientation of galactic longitude. The galactic longitude (l) runs from the Sun upwards in the image through the center of the galaxy. The galactic latitude (b) is perpendicular to the image (i.e. coming out of the image) and also centered on the Sun.