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.

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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

The distance between the Earth and the Sun is about 93 million miles, while the distances to nearby stars range from a few light-years to tens of light-years. The distances to galaxies are much larger, typically millions to billions of light-years away.

Answer 3

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 4

Generally speaking a planet, and the only planets yet discovered are in our own solar system, are bodies with mass that orbit the sun. Planets are larger than comets or asteroids. This same definition would apply to a planet discovered to be orbiting another star (aka sun.

Answer 5

Jupiter's distance from the Sun or Earth is too close to be measured in light-years. The Earth is 8 light-minutes from the Sun while Jupiter is 5.2 times further, 42 light-minutes away. Both distances vary a little but those are the average figures.

<<>> On average, Jupiter is about 5.2 astronomical units from the Sun. The distance from Earth, of course, can be up to one astronomical unit more or less, depending on which side of the Sun Earth is, in relation to Jupiter.

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

Odd question. Nonetheless:

Jupiter is roughly 483,649,064 miles from the sun.

1 mile is 1,609.344 meters.

Therefore, 1 mile is 160,934.4 centimeters.

Therefore, Jupiter is 77,835,771,925,401.6 centimeters from the sun.

Answer 8

It is probably easiest to visualize how much time light takes to travel the different distances.

Earth - Sun: 8 minutes
Earth - Alpha Centauri: 4.3 years
Diameter of our galaxy: 100,000 years.
The two Magellanic Clouds: about 180,000 years. These are satellite galaxies of our Milky Way.
M31 (Andromeda galaxy): 2.5 million years. This galaxy is the largest of the so-called "Local Group", and is still visible with the naked eye.

Answer 9

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 10

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).