# How big is the Sun? > How wide and how heavy the Sun is, how many Earths and Jupiters would fit inside it, and why it looks the same size as the Moon in our sky. HTML: https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/the-sun/how-big-is-the-sun Numbers as of 2026-10-31 03:45 UTC. Live ones keep changing on the HTML page. The Sun is 1,391,400 kilometres wide, about 109 times the width of Earth. About 1.3 million Earths would fit inside it. Its mass is about 330,000 times Earth's, and the Sun alone holds 99.87 per cent of all the mass in the solar system. Even so, it is a middle-sized star. And it is slowly getting lighter: since you opened this page, it has lost [counts up live on the page] kilograms to its light and its wind. - The Sun's distance from Earth: 148,535,513 km - Solar wind speed measured upstream of Earth: 352 km/s - The Sun's X-ray brightness at Earth (GOES, 0.1–0.8 nm): B1.9 - Sunspot number, monthly mean (latest month): 60.3 ## Our star What is the Sun? The Sun is a star, the only one in our solar system. It is a huge ball of hot gas, mostly hydrogen and helium, held together by its own gravity. In its core, hydrogen fuses into helium, and the energy of that fusion makes it shine. It has no solid surface. What we see as its edge is the photosphere, the layer where its light finally escapes into space. Measured across that glowing ball, the Sun is 1,391,400 kilometres wide. A trip around its equator would be 4,371,000 kilometres. Even the International Space Station, at its orbital speed, would need 6.6 days to go round it once. Beside the planets it is a different kind of thing. Earth is a small ball of rock. Jupiter, the largest planet, is a giant of gas. The Sun is about 9.7 times as wide as Jupiter, and about 109 times as wide as Earth. ## How many Earths fit inside? Volume Width grows into volume fast. Make a ball twice as wide and it holds eight times as much. So a star about 109 times as wide as Earth has room for about 1.3 million Earths. Even Jupiter is small beside it. About 921 Jupiters would fit inside the Sun. Mass tells a different story from volume. The Sun is made mostly of hydrogen and helium, the lightest elements, so on average it is far less dense than rocky Earth. That is why it holds about 330,000 times Earth's mass, not 1.3 million times. Real planets would not pack together neatly, of course. Round things leave gaps between them. The number is a measure of space, not a recipe. It is still the clearest way we know to feel how much of the Sun there is. ## Weighing the Sun Mass Nobody can put a star on a scale. Astronomers weigh the Sun by watching what circles it. How fast Earth goes round, and how far away it is, tell us how strongly the Sun pulls, and so how much it holds. The answer is about 330,000 times the mass of Earth, and about 1,000 times the mass of Jupiter. All eight planets, the moons, the asteroids and the comets together are only a thin remainder. The Sun holds 99.87 per cent of the solar system's mass. That is why everything else goes round it. The Sun is also getting lighter. Every second it loses about 5.5 billion kilograms: most of it turned into light, the rest blown away in its wind. Since you opened this page, that adds up to [counts up live on the page] kilograms. It sounds enormous, but over its whole life so far the Sun has lost only a very small part of itself. ## As wide as the Moon in our sky In our sky In our sky the Sun looks no bigger than the full Moon. (Never look straight at it.) That is a coincidence of size and distance. The Sun is about 400 times as wide as the Moon. Right now it is also about 386 times as far away as the Moon is on average. The two almost cancel, so the two discs look nearly the same size. That is why total eclipses of the Sun can happen. When the Moon passes exactly in front of the Sun, it only just covers the bright disc. For a few minutes, the Sun's faint outer atmosphere, the corona, shines around the black Moon. The fit is not perfect. The Moon's distance changes through its orbit. When it is farther away than usual, it looks a little too small, and a ring of sunlight stays around it: an annular eclipse. The Moon is also drifting slowly away from us, so total eclipses will end one day, very far in the future. ## An ordinary star Among the stars For all its size, the Sun is not unusual among stars. Astronomers class it as a yellow dwarf, a middle-sized star in the long, steady middle of its life. NASA calls it an average star by size. Many stars are much larger. Its nearest neighbour is a different kind. Proxima Centauri, about 4.2 light-years away, is a small, cool red dwarf. And the Sun is only one of between 100 billion and 400 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Nobody has counted them, so the number is a wide estimate. Ordinary is a gift here. Because the Sun is a typical star, studying it close up teaches us how stars everywhere work. Because it is steady, Earth has had a very long time of stable light. The Sun has shone for about 4.6 billion years, and has enough hydrogen in its core for about 5 billion years more. ## FAQ ### How big is the Sun compared to Earth? The Sun is about 109 times as wide as Earth: 1,391,400 kilometres against 12,756. By volume, about 1.3 million Earths would fit inside it. By mass, it is about 330,000 Earths. ### How many Earths can fit in the Sun? About 1.3 million, counting by volume. Real balls would leave gaps if you packed them. So think of it as how much space the Sun takes up, not as a stack of planets. ### How big is the Sun compared to Jupiter? About 9.7 times as wide, and about 1,000 times as heavy. About 921 Jupiters would fit inside it. Jupiter is the largest planet, yet it holds far less than the Sun. ### How much of the solar system's mass is in the Sun? 99.87 per cent. Everything else, all the planets, moons, asteroids and comets together, makes up the rest. That is why everything in the solar system goes round the Sun. ### Why do the Sun and the Moon look the same size? Because the Sun is about 400 times as wide as the Moon, and also roughly that many times farther away. The two effects nearly cancel. That is what lets the Moon cover the Sun exactly in a total eclipse. ### Is the Sun a big star? No, it is a middle-sized one. Astronomers call it a yellow dwarf, and many stars are much larger. It only looks so big to us because it is so close. ## Related - [What is the Sun doing right now?](https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/the-sun/what-is-the-sun-doing-now.md) - [Geomagnetic storms](https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/space-weather/geomagnetic-storms.md) - [Jupiter](https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/planets/jupiter.md) - [How hot is the Sun?](https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/the-sun/how-hot-is-the-sun.md) The next time the Sun hangs low on the horizon, you can hide it behind your thumb. What will you make of everything that fits inside it? ## Sources - Age of the Sun (Measured, with error): [Science: The absolute chronology and thermal processing of solids in the solar protoplanetary disk (Connelly et al. 2012)](https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1226919); [NASA Science: Sun: Facts](https://science.nasa.gov/sun/facts/) - Diameter of a regulation football (size 5) (Measured, with error): [The IFAB: Laws of the Game, Law 2 – The Ball](https://www.theifab.com/laws/latest/the-ball/) - Distance to Proxima Centauri (Measured, with error): [Astronomy & Astrophysics: Gaia Data Release 3: Summary of the content and survey properties (Gaia Collaboration, Vallenari et al. 2023)](https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202243940); [ESA: Gaia Data License](https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia-users/license) - Earth's circumference at the equator (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Earth Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html) - Earth's diameter at the equator (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Earth Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html) - Great-circle distance between London and Sydney (Measured, with error): [NASA NSSDCA: Earth Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html) - Jupiter's diameter at the equator (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Jupiter Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/jupiterfact.html) - Mass of Jupiter (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Jupiter Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/jupiterfact.html) - Mass of the Earth (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Earth Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html) - Mass of the Sun (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Sun Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html); [International Astronomical Union (via arXiv): IAU 2015 Resolution B3 on recommended nominal conversion constants for selected solar and planetary properties](https://arxiv.org/abs/1510.07674) - Mass the Sun loses each second, to its light and its wind together (Measured, with error): [NASA NSSDCA: Sun Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html); [Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: The independency of stellar mass-loss rates on stellar X-ray luminosity and activity level based on solar X-ray flux and solar wind observations (Cohen 2011; arXiv:1107.2275)](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19428.x); [Astronomy & Astrophysics: Estimates of the change rate of solar mass and gravitational constant based on the dynamics of the Solar System (Pitjeva et al. 2021; arXiv:2201.09804)](https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039893) - Share of the solar system's mass that is in the Sun (Measured, with error): [NASA Science: Sun: Facts](https://science.nasa.gov/sun/facts/); [NASA NSSDCA: Sun Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html); [NASA NSSDCA: Planetary Fact Sheet - Metric](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/) - Solar wind speed measured upstream of Earth (Measured): [NOAA SWPC: Solar Wind Data and Display Changes (30 June 2026)](https://www.spaceweather.gov/news/solar-wind-data-and-display-changes); [NOAA SWPC: SWPC home-page summary bar script (shows this file as "Solar Wind Speed ... km/sec")](https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/modules/custom/swpc_summary/swpc_summary.js); [The Astrophysical Journal: Extremely Slow (Vsw < 300 km/s) Solar Winds (ESSWs) at 1 au: Causes of Extreme Geomagnetic Quiet at Earth (Tsurutani & Hajra 2022, ApJ 936, 155)](https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac7444); [Journal of Geophysical Research: Extremely high speed solar wind: 29-30 October 2003 (Skoug et al. 2004, JGR 109, A09102)](https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JA010494); [Space Weather (AGU): On the Little-Known Consequences of the 4 August 1972 Ultra-Fast Coronal Mass Ejecta (Knipp et al. 2018, Space Weather 16)](https://doi.org/10.1029/2018SW002024) - Stars in the Milky Way (Debated): [ESA: Guide to our galaxy](https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia/Guide_to_our_galaxy); [NASA: Our Milky Way Galaxy: How Big is Space?](https://science.nasa.gov/universe/exoplanets/our-milky-way-galaxy-how-big-is-space/) - Sunspot number, monthly mean (latest month) (Measured, with error): [NOAA SWPC: Observed solar cycle indices](https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/json/solar-cycle/observed-solar-cycle-indices.json); [SILSO, Royal Observatory of Belgium: SILSO data files](https://www.sidc.be/SILSO/datafiles) - The International Space Station's orbital speed (Measured): [NASA: Station Facts](https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/space-station-facts-and-figures/) - The Moon's average distance from Earth (Measured): [NASA: Moon Facts](https://science.nasa.gov/moon/facts/) - The Moon's mean diameter (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Moon Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/moonfact.html) - The Sun's circumference at the equator (Measured, with error): [NASA NSSDCA: Sun Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html); [International Astronomical Union (via arXiv): IAU 2015 Resolution B3 on recommended nominal conversion constants for selected solar and planetary properties](https://arxiv.org/abs/1510.07674) - The Sun's distance from Earth (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Sun Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html) - The Sun's mean diameter (Measured, with error): [NASA NSSDCA: Sun Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html); [International Astronomical Union (via arXiv): IAU 2015 Resolution B3 on recommended nominal conversion constants for selected solar and planetary properties](https://arxiv.org/abs/1510.07674) - The Sun's X-ray brightness at Earth (GOES, 0.1–0.8 nm) (Measured): [NOAA SWPC: Solar Flares (Radio Blackouts)](https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/solar-flares-radio-blackouts) - Time the Sun will go on burning hydrogen in its core, from now (Estimated): [NASA Science: Sun: Facts](https://science.nasa.gov/sun/facts/); [The Astrophysical Journal: Our Sun. III. Present and Future (Sackmann, Boothroyd & Kraemer 1993)](https://doi.org/10.1086/173407)