Numbers

  • An astronomical unit (AU, the distance from the Earth to the Sun) is \(1.496\times 10^{11}\) m.

  • The radius of the Earth (\(r_{\oplus}\)) is 6380 km

  • One parsec (pc) is \(3.086\times 10^{16}\)m (\(3.26\) light years)

  • The radius of Mars is 3400 km.

  • The distance between the Sun and Mars is \(1.524\) AU

  • The distance between the Sun and the Kuiper belt is between \(40\) and \(100\) AU.

  • The mass of the Earth (\(m_{\oplus}\)) is \(5.97\times 10^{24}\) kg.

  • The mass of the Sun (\(M_{\odot}\)) is \(2.00\times 10^{30}\) kg.

  • The mass of Mars is \(6.4\times 10^{23}\) kg.

  • The Chandrasekhar mass is \(1.4\) times the mass of the Sun.

  • The mass of a typical galaxy is \(10^{10}\,M_{\odot}\).

  • The luminosity of the Sun (\(L_{\odot}\)) is \(3.8\times 10^{26}\) W.

  • The temperature of the Sun (\(T_{\odot}\)) is \(5800\) K.

  • The radiation temperature of deep space is \(2.7\) K.