How does the distance between the earth and the sun compare to the distances between earth and the nearby stars and galaxies?

Answer 1

The distances vary. To get the distances between a pair of planets, look up their distances from the Sun (for example: Venus, 0.72 AU, Earth: 1.00 AU). Subtract these distances to get the closest distance (0.28 AU), and add them to get the farthest distance (1.72 AU), since they are farthest when they are on opposite sides of the Sun. This makes the simplifying assumption that the planets have circular orbits, so it is not entirely accurate, but close enough to get a general idea.

=================================================

Another contributor approached the matter this way:

Nearest that two of the solar system's planets can approach each other:

Mercury and Venus in line on the same side of the sun . . . 31.2 million miles.

Farthest apart for any two of the solar system's planets:

Neptune and Pluto in line on opposite sides of the sun . . . 6.463 billion miles.

In a rough ballpark, those two figures are the extremes. As the planets perform all of their

orbital revolutions, the distances between them are constantly changing, and are

always somewhere in this range. No two can ever be closer than 31.2 million miles,

nor farther apart than 6.463 billion miles.

Of course these numbers are completely incomprehensible, which of in turn means

that some people will see these numbers and worry about planets getting too close

together and having some sort of messy and catastrophic accident.

So we took that minimum distance between planets ... 31.2 million miles ... and found

a few things to compare it to, for the relief and comfort of visitors to this page:

The closest together that any two planets can ever be . . . 31.2 million miles, which is:

-- 87% of the distance from the sun to its nearest planet (Mercury)

-- 36 times the diameter of the sun

-- 131 times the distance between the earth and moon

-- 351 times the diameter of the largest planet (Jupiter)

-- a distance that takes a beam of light 2minutes 47seconds to cross it

Answer 2

Answer

My solar system extends from the Sun to the Oort Cloud which is about 1 light year away.

"The solar system does not really end with Pluto. Besides the planets, there is a thin haze of dust (some of it bunched into comets). Any of this dust that is nearer to the Sun than to any other star may be in the gravitational hold of the Sun and so counts as part of the solar system. So the outermost of such dust may be half way to the nearest star."

Answer 3

The distances vary. To get the distances between a pair of planets, look up their distances from the Sun (for example: Venus, 0.72 AU, Earth: 1.00 AU). Subtract these distances to get the closest distance (0.28 AU), and add them to get the farthest distance (1.72 AU), since they are farthest when they are on opposite sides of the Sun. This makes the simplifying assumption that the planets have circular orbits, so it is not entirely accurate, but close enough to get a general idea.

=================================================

Another contributor approached the matter this way:

Nearest that two of the solar system's planets can approach each other:

Mercury and Venus in line on the same side of the sun . . . 31.2 million miles.

Farthest apart for any two of the solar system's planets:

Neptune and Pluto in line on opposite sides of the sun . . . 6.463 billion miles.

In a rough ballpark, those two figures are the extremes. As the planets perform all of their

orbital revolutions, the distances between them are constantly changing, and are

always somewhere in this range. No two can ever be closer than 31.2 million miles,

nor farther apart than 6.463 billion miles.

Of course these numbers are completely incomprehensible, which of in turn means

that some people will see these numbers and worry about planets getting too close

together and having some sort of messy and catastrophic accident.

So we took that minimum distance between planets ... 31.2 million miles ... and found

a few things to compare it to, for the relief and comfort of visitors to this page:

The closest together that any two planets can ever be . . . 31.2 million miles, which is:

-- 87% of the distance from the sun to its nearest planet (Mercury)

-- 36 times the diameter of the sun

-- 131 times the distance between the earth and moon

-- 351 times the diameter of the largest planet (Jupiter)

-- a distance that takes a beam of light 2minutes 47seconds to cross it

Answer 4

Zero. The Earth is inside the Solar System, part of the Solar System.

Zero. The Earth is inside the Solar System, part of the Solar System.

Zero. The Earth is inside the Solar System, part of the Solar System.

Zero. The Earth is inside the Solar System, part of the Solar System.

Answer 5

If it is assumed that a spacecraft leaves the Earth at a velocity of 17500 miles per hour and the distance to the edge of the Solar System is 50 AU (edge of the Kuiper Belt). Then it can be calculated that it would take the craft 30.3 years to reach the edge.

However, if we assume the edge of the Solar System is the edge of the Sun's gravitational influence, a distance of 100,000 AU. The time it would take the same craft to leave would be 60600 years. That's around 1400 human generations.

Answer 6

Jupiter's orbit is elliptical, which means sometimes it is closer to the Sun than at other times.

The closest Jupiter gets to the Sun is referred to as Perihelion, and at its furthest Aphelion. The mean is called the semi major axis.

• Aphelion: 8.63081601 × 10-5 light years
• Perihelion: 7.82803632 × 10-5 light years
• SM Axis: 8.22942617 × 10-5 light years

As you can see, light years are not a very good unit for measuring Jupiter's distance from the sun, since light takes well under an hour to make the trip from the Sun to Jupiter. The units scientists use to measure the distance between the planets and the sun are AU's or Astronomical Units.

Answer 7

Since Jupiter's moons revolve in orbits around Jupiter, each of them is sometimes farther from the sun than Jupiter, and sometimes closer to the sun than Jupiter. But each moon must average out at the same distance from the sun as Jupiter is. That distance is 483.8 million miles (778.6 million km).

Answer 8

Depends on what you consider the "edge": the outermost planet, Neptune, is almost three billion miles from the Sun, but there are things that are much farther.

The Oort Cloud, a sphere of more than a trillion small bodies that can become comets, may extend as much a one and a half light years from the Sun; that's almost ten trillion (10,000,000,000,000) miles.

Answer 9

From Wikipedia: "The Oort cloud ... is a hypothesized spherical cloud of comets which may lie roughly 50,000 AU, or nearly a light-year, from the Sun." Since the Oort cloud is part of the Solar System, that would result in a diameter of about 2 light-years.

Answer 10

All the planets are constantly orbiting the sun, at different speeds and different distances. So the distance between any two planets is always changing. It is therefore not possible to give definitive answers to your question.