Distance from Earth:
mean 149 597 893 km (1 astronomical unit (a.u.))
max. 152 103 000 km
min. 147 104 000 km
Mean parallax: 8
.794
Distance from centre of the Galaxy: ∼28 000 light-years
Velocity round centre of Galaxy: ∼220 km s−1
Period of revolution round centre of Galaxy: ∼225 000 000 years
(1 ‘cosmic year’)
Velocity toward solar apex: 19.5 km s−1
Apparent diameter: mean 3201
max. 3225
min. 3131
Equatorial diameter: 1391 980 km
Density, water = 1: mean 1.409
Volume, Earth = 1: 1303 600
Mass, Earth = 1: 332 946
Mass: 2 × 1027 tonnes (>99% of the mass of the entire Solar
System)
Surface gravity, Earth = 1: 27.90
Escape velocity: 617.7 km s−1
Luminosity: 3.85 × 1023 kW
Solar constant (solar radiation per second vertically incident at
unit area at 1 a.u. from the Sun); 1368 W m−2
Mean apparent visual magnitude: −26.78 (600 000 times as
bright as the full moon)
Absolute magnitude: +4.82
Spectrum: G2
Temperature: surface 5500 ◦C
core ∼15 000 000 ◦C
Rotation period: sidereal, mean: 25.380 days
synodic, mean: 27.275 days
Time taken for light to reach the Earth, at mean distance:
499.012 s (8.3 min)
Age: ∼4.6 thousand million years