Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Distance from center of Milky Way to Sun 
Name: Dutch Minott
Status: Other
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
What is the distance between the center of the Milky Way and our Sun?


Replies:
The Milky Way has a radius of about 15 kpc, and the Sun is about 10 kpc from the center. A "kpc" is a kilo-parsec. One parsec is 3.26 light years or 3.086 x 10^18 cm. I leave the awesome mathematical challenge of converting to miles (or kilometers) as an exercise for the reader.

Hawley


Click here to return to the Astronomy Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory