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Encyclopedia > Numbers about the solar system XXIII
THE HEAVIEST BODIES OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Space missions allowed to understand and experiment change in the gravity. This started for the first manned missions around the Earth and more dramatic with the first man on Moon during the Apollo missions.
How to "weigh" a celestial body? Celestial mechanics and astrometry provided a first answer to this question. When modeling the motion of the celestial bodies, the interactive gravitational forces have to be evaluated. Observing and modeling these motions is one mean to know the masses of the celestial bodies mainly during a close approach of a space probe near a planet.
The table below provides the list of the heaviest bodies of the solar system sorted by masses (in solar masses and in kg). Is also given, the density and the equatorial gravity. The gravity at surface is the result of the gravity g and the centrifugal force due to the rotation of the body. Most of time, the gravity g is dominant. For a body with a mass M and a radius R, the value of g is g = GM/R2 where G is the constant of the universal gravity.
Click on the titles of the columns in order to sort depending on one of the parameters.
| Name | Mass (Sun=1) |
Mass (1024 kg) |
Density (g/cm3) |
Equatorial gravity
| |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earth | 1/332 943 | 5.973 7 | 5.515 | 9.80 | 1 | ||
| Venus | 1/408 524 | 4.868 5 | 5.25 | 8.87 | 0.91 | ||
| Mercury | 1/6 023 684 | 0.330 18 | 5.42 | 3.70 | 0.38 | ||
| Mars | 1/3 098 699 | 0.641 85 | 3.94 | 3.72 | 0.38 | ||
| Io (J1) | 1/0.022 x 109 | 0.089 3 | 3.55 | 1.78 | 0.18 | ||
| Moon | 1/0.027 x 109 | 0.073 47 | 3.34 | 1.62 | 0.17 | ||
| (4) Vesta | 1/7.10 x 109 | 0.000 28 | 3.16 | 0.29 | 0.03 | ||
| Europa (J2) | 1/0.041 x 109 | 0.048 0 | 3.01 | 1.31 | 0.13 | ||
| (2) Pallas | 1/7.96 x 109 | 0.000 25 | 2.62 | 0.25 | 0.03 | ||
| (1) Ceres | 1/2.01 x 109 | 0.000 99 | 2.12 | 0.30 | 0.03 | ||
| Triton (N1) | 1/0.093 x 109 | 0.021 4 | 2.07 | 0.78 | 0.02 | ||
| Pluto | 1/0.161 x 109 | 0.012 38 | 2.05 | 0.60 | 0.06 | ||
| Ganymede (J3) | 1/0.013 x 109 | 0.148 2 | 1.94 | 1.43 | 0.15 | ||
| Titan (S6) | 1/0.015 x 109 | 0.134 55 | 1.88 | 1.35 | 0.14 | ||
| Callisto (J4) | 1/0.018 x 109 | 0.107 6 | 1.86 | 1.24 | 0.13 | ||
| Charon (P1) | 1/1.025 x 109 | 0.001 94 | 1.83 | 0.37 | 0.03 | ||
| Titania (U3) | 1/0.563 x 109 | 0.003 53 | 1.70 | 0.38 | 0.04 | ||
| Neptune | 1/19 417 | 102.43 | 1.64 | 11.15 | 1.14 | ||
| Oberon (U4) | 1/0.661 x 109 | 0.003 01 | 1.64 | 0.35 | 0.04 | ||
| Ariel (U1) | 1/1.473 x 109 | 0.001 35 | 1.56 | 0.27 | 0.03 | ||
| Umbriel (U2) | 1/1.700 x 109 | 0.001 17 | 1.52 | 0.23 | 0.02 | ||
| Dione (S4) | 1/1.894 x 109 | 0.001 05 | 1.43 | 0.22 | 0.02 | ||
| Soleil | 1 | 1988 900 | 1.41 | 273.96 | 27.96 | ||
| Jupiter | 1/1048 | 1898.6 | 1.33 | 24.79 | 2.53 | ||
| Rhéa (S5) | 1/0.861 x 109 | 0.002 31 | 1.33 | 0.26 | 0.03 | ||
| Iapetus (S8) | 1/1.25 x 109 | 0.001 59 | 1.30 | 0.21 | 0.02 | ||
| Uranus | 1/22 905 | 86.831 | 1.29 | 8.87 | 0.91 | ||
| Enceladus (S2) | 1/28.41 x 109 | 0.000 07 | 1.24 | 0.07 | 0.01 | ||
| Tethys (S3) | 1/2.97 x 109 | 0.000 67 | 1.21 | 0.16 | 0.02 | ||
| Saturn | 1/3499 | 568.46 | 0.69 | 10.44 | 1.07 | ||