solar mass

The unit, solar mass, the mass of the Sun, is commonly used as a unit of mass for astronomical objects. It is approximately 2 × 10³⁰ kilograms, with 1.98847 × 10³⁰ kg being a nominal value based on recent respected determinations of the actual mass. Some example masses using the solar mass unit:

A solar mass is roughly 1047 Jupiter masses (M_Jupiter) or 333000 Earth masses (M_Earth).

The actual solar mass is determined by dividing the solar mass parameter by the universal gravitational constant, two values which are determined experimentally. The former is determined much more precisely than the latter, which is currently determined to about six decimal places.