Andromeda
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Star

The Sun

Open in OuranosCompare its size

Our star: more than 99.8% of the Solar System's mass, 4.6 billion years old.

Measured

Radius
695,700 km
From the Earth today
0.989 AU (148 million km)

How far, from the Earth

0.989 AU. To cross it:

  • Light8 minutes 14 seconds
  • Voyager 1's speed3.33 months
  • Driving at 100 km/h169 years

Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.

Spacecraft that went there

  • Parker Solar Probe — Active (extended into 2029 by NASA's 2026 Heliophysics Senior Review); perihelia ~6.2 million km from the Sun every 88 days.
  • Solar Orbiter — Operating (ESA news through 8 October 2026).

Where this comes from

  • Planets, Pluto, the Moon and Jupiter's big moons: astronomy-engine (Don Cross, MIT). Other moons: JPL Planetary Satellite Mean Elements. Ceres, Eris, Haumea, Makemake: JPL Small-Body Database. NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.