Standard unit of mass in astronomy
Solar mass |
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 The Sun contains 99.86% of the mass of the Solar System. Bodies less massive than Saturn are not visible at this scale.
Jupiter's mass (0.10%) is actually more than three times Saturn's (0.03%), which is not accurately visible in this graphic. |
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Unit system | astronomy |
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Unit of | mass |
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Symbol | M☉ |
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In SI base units | 1.988416×1030 kg[1] |
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The solar mass (M☉) is a frequently used unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately 2×1030 kg. 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 Sun is
nominal solar mass
M☉ = 1.988416×1030 kg or a best estimate of
M☉ =
(1.988475±0.000092)×1030 kg.
[1]
The solar mass is about 333000 times the mass of Earth (M🜨), or 1047 times the mass of Jupiter (MJ).
- ^ a b Prša, Andrej; Harmanec, Petr; Torres, Guillermo; Mamajek, Eric; Asplund, Martin; Capitaine, Nicole; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jørgen; Depagne, Éric; Haberreiter, Margit; Hekker, Saskia; Hilton, James; Kopp, Greg; Kostov, Veselin; Kurtz, Donald W.; Laskar, Jacques; Mason, Brian D.; Milone, Eugene F.; Montgomery, Michele; Richards, Mercedes; Schmutz, Werner; Schou, Jesper; Stewart, Susan G. (2016). "Nominal Values for Selected Solar and Planetary Quantities: IAU 2015 Resolution B3". The Astronomical Journal. 152 (2): 41. arXiv:1605.09788. Bibcode:2016AJ....152...41P. doi:10.3847/0004-6256/152/2/41.