Return to Scale View
About News Create With Us
Return to Scale View

How big is the Distance from Earth to Sun?

The Distance from Earth to Sun is 150,000,000 kilometres

Introduction - The Sun, a Distant Marvel

Have you ever looked up at the sky and wondered, “Just how far away is the Sun?” It’s a thought that many of us have had. The Sun, that fiery ball of light in the sky, doesn’t seem so far away. It warms our skin, brightens our day, and gives life to our planet. But in reality, it’s much further away than we can truly comprehend.

What’s in a Number?

Let’s talk numbers. The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is approximately 150 million kilometers. That’s a huge number, isn’t it? To put it into perspective, if we were to travel at the speed of a jet plane, it would take us over 20 years to reach the Sun! This distance is so important in astronomy that it has its own special name: an Astronomical Unit, or AU for short. One AU is the average distance from the Earth to the Sun. It’s a handy unit for measuring distances in our solar system.

Size Comparison - How Big is Big?

Understanding the size of 150 million kilometers can be a little tricky. Let’s try to make this easier by making some comparisons.

  • If you took a road trip and drove non-stop at 100 kilometers per hour, you could go around the Earth almost four times in a week. But to travel 150 million kilometers at the same speed, you would need more than 170 years!
  • If you stacked 150 million one-kilometer rulers end-to-end, they would stretch all the way to the Moon and back almost 20 times!
  • If you could lay out all the blood vessels in your body end-to-end, they would stretch about 100,000 kilometers. That means you would need the blood vessels from 1,500 people to reach from the Earth to the Sun!

The Sun - Not as Close as It Seems

So, while the Sun might not seem so far away on a sunny day, it’s actually quite a distance from us. This distance is what allows life to exist on Earth. If we were much closer, the heat from the Sun could make our planet too hot to support life. If we were much further away, it could be too cold. In conclusion, the distance from the Earth to the Sun is not just a number. It’s a crucial factor that makes life on Earth possible. It’s a testament to the vastness of our universe and the wonder of our existence. So, the next time you look up at the Sun, remember just how far away it really is, and marvel at the incredible universe we live in!

Smaller By Category
Rigel
Rigel is a blazing blue star, and the brightest star in the constellation of Orion. It lies near the equator, so it is visible from almost anywhere on Earth. Also, don't call it "wriggle" because it's pronounced like "rye-jel".
Albireo
Albireo is made up of three stars total. Here we are just showing the largest one. Two of the stars are close, and form a yellow dot. The third is blue and further away. The blue star and yellow stars are so far apart it takes them 100,000 years to complete one orbit.
Aldebaran
Aldebaran is not to be confused with Alderaan, which is a planet in Star Wars. Alderaan is very similar to Earth in size, day length, and water cover. However, Aldebaran is 4,900 times larger, rotates every 520 Earth days, and has no water.
Larger By Category
Gacrux
Gacrux can be found in the constellation Crux. Crux, which means "cross" in Latin, is known as the Southern Cross. We think Gacrux might be a binary star, but we haven't been able to spot its companion yet. The main star is a red giant.
Deneb
Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation of Cygnus. Deneb is 2,600 light-years away, which makes it the most distant of the 25 brightest stars. If you lived on Mars, Deneb would appear above the North Pole - not Polaris.
Enif
Enif is an orange supergiant. Its name means "nose" in Arabic, because in the constellation Pegasus, it is in the position of the muzzle. Coincidentally, the word "Enif" backwards is "Fine".