UCSB Science Line
Sponge Spicules Nerve Cells Galaxy Abalone Shell Nickel Succinate X-ray Lens Lupine
UCSB Science Line
Home
How it Works
Ask a Question
Search Topics
Webcasts
Our Scientists
Science Links
Contact Information
How big is the sun? How big is the earth? How big is Jupiter? Can you compare them?
Question Date: 2015-04-15
Answer 1:

Great question! Yes, we can compare the size of the sun, earth, and Jupiter in different ways. The easiest way to visualize the difference in size of these objects is to compare their radii (the distance from the center to the surface of a circle or sphere). The sun has an average radius of about 695,500 kilometers (432,150 miles). Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, has a radius of about 70,000 km. Earth’s radius is only about 6,370 km. Earth is tiny compared to Jupiter and the sun! You would need to fly around the earth roughly 110 times to travel the same distance if you few around the sun once! The picture below compares the size of the sun, Jupiter, and Earth. Earth is the tiny little dot on the left!

Sun-Jupiter-Earth


Answer 2:

Answer #2 Hello! I think the best way to answer your question is with some pictures! These images show the relative sizes of the sun and the planets. The sun is 864,752 miles wide (that’s 323 times as wide as the United States!) While Jupiter, which is the biggest planet in our solar system is 86,881 miles wide (32 times the width of the United States), and Earth is just 7,918 miles wide (three times the width of the United States).

Sun
Jupiter
Planetary System
Planets and Fruits

Answer 3:

The sun has a diameter of 1.3 million kilometers and a mass of 300,000 times that of the Earth. Jupiter has a diameter of 70,000 kilometers and mass 317 times that of the Earth. Earth has a diameter of 12,732 kilometers (exact because of the definition of the kilometer).


Answer 4:

Imagine a 1 followed by 21 zeros (with units of m3). That is how big Earth is. Now imagine a 1 followed by 25 zeros (same units). That's how big Jupiter is. The sun is a 1 followed by 27 zeros (same units).

Don't worry if these numbers look too big to imagine. I have a hard time with them too. There is actually a really cool relationship among the three. In terms of volume, Jupiter is about 1000 times bigger than Earth. What this means is that you can fit about 1000 Earths inside Jupiter. The Sun is about 1 000 000 (a million) times bigger than Earth, which means you can fit about a million Earths inside the Sun. What about Jupiter and the Sun? Well, just like we can fit about 1000 Earths in Jupiter, we can also fit about 1000 Jupiters in the Sun.

I hope this comparison helps. Thank you for your question, and good luck with school!


Click Here to return to the search form.

University of California, Santa Barbara Materials Research Laboratory National Science Foundation
This program is co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and UCSB School-University Partnerships
Copyright © 2020 The Regents of the University of California,
All Rights Reserved.
UCSB Terms of Use