Solar radius
Solar radius is a unit of distance used to express the size of stars in astronomy relative to the Sun. The solar radius is usually defined as the radius to the layer in the Sun's photosphere where the optical depth equals 2/3:
| 1 R☉ = | Units |
|---|---|
| 6.95700×108 | metres |
| 695,700 | kilometres |
| 0.00465047 | astronomical unit |
| 432,288 | miles |
| 7.35355×10−8 | light-year |
| 2.25461×10−8 | parsec |
| 2.32061 | light-seconds |
695,700 kilometres (432,300 miles) is approximately 10 times the average radius of Jupiter, 109 times the radius of the Earth, and 1/215th of an astronomical unit, the approximate distance between Earth and the Sun. The solar radius to either pole and that to the equator differ slightly due to the Sun's rotation, which induces an oblateness in the order of 10 parts per million.
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