The Average Mass throughout the Milky Way Galaxy.
We have now an estimate as to the average mass in every square light-year of space in our galaxy the Milky Way.
British spelling.
The information contained in my articles has been gained by reading many books on the subject. I won’t pretend to be an expert, but I hope you find some of my reads thought-provoking.
Mass is the amount of matter contained in a physical body. An object’s mass also determines the strength of its gravitational attraction to other bodies.
The kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units.
The Earth has 81 times more mass than the Moon.
Planet Jupiter has 318 times more mass than Earth.
The Sun has more than 1,000 times the mass of Jupiter.
We think our local star the Sun is massive but R136a1 is arguably the most massive star known, it currently holds the record, containing roughly 265 times the mass of the Sun.
Our galaxy the Milky Way stretches over 100,000 light-years across which is a vast distance, to put that distance into some sort of perspective think of this. Light travels 9.46 trillion kilometres in one year. a trillion is 1 followed by 12 zeros.
The distance between the Earth and the Sun is called an astronomical unit, so you could say the Milky Way is 6,324 million astronomical units wide.
There is a vast amount of mass in the Milky Way galaxy, Sagittarius A* the black hole at its centre contains around 4.3 million times the mass of the Sun. Then you have to add up the mass of billions of stars, planets, moons, and countless other celestial objects.
It has been calculated that every light-year of space in the Milky Way contains on average 40% of the Sun's mass, it may seem like a lot but as you now know a light-year cube holds a massive volume of space.
Imagine a cube 9.46 trillion kilometres across every side, that is a light-year cube, yes it is mind-boggling, to say the least.
You might like to ask your family or friends these questions and test their knowledge, the detailed answers might come as a surprise.
