Jupiter radius in the context of "Solar radii"

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⭐ Core Definition: Jupiter radius

The Jupiter radius or Jovian radius (plural Jupiter radii or Jovian radii; denoted as RJ or, less commonly, RJup) has a value of 71,492 km (44,423 mi), or of 11.2 Earth radii (R🜨) (one Earth radius, 6378 km, equals 0.08921 RJ). The Jupiter radius is a unit of length used in astronomy to describe the radii of large planets (especially gas giants) and certain exoplanets. It is also used in describing certain stars, in particular brown dwarfs.

The general shape of the planet Jupiter has been directly measured from radio occultations of passing spacecraft, starting with the Pioneer and Voyager missions. This method gives an overall margin of error of about ±5 km. Estimates of the radius at one bar pressure are then determined through extrapolation. The planet Jupiter has the approximate shape of an oblate spheroid, which is mainly set by the rate of rotation. This gives a difference of about 10% between its polar and equatorial radii. The polar radius has been determined with an accuracy of ±10 km (as of 1987). Density fluctuations within the planet can create variations in the equatorial radius of up to 30 km. The winds in Jupiter's outer atmosphere can vary the radius by up to 4 km.

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Jupiter radius in the context of Solar radius

A solar radius is a unit of distance, commonly understood as 695,700 km and expressed as , used mostly to express the size of an astronomical objects relative to that of the Sun, or their distance from it. This length is also called the nominal solar radius. The sun's actual radius, from which the unit of measurement is derived, is usually calculated as the radius from the sun's center out to the layer in the Sun's photosphere where the optical depth equals 2/3. One solar radius can be described as follows:This is an approximation: both because such distance is difficult to measure and can be measured in various ways, and because the sun is not a perfectly spherical object itself, and thus the actual radius varies depending on the point(s) measured and modality of measurement employed.

695,700 kilometres (432,300 miles) is approximately 10 times the average radius of Jupiter; 109 times the 6378 km radius of the Earth at its equator; and or 0.0047 of an astronomical unit, the approximate average distance between Earth and the Sun. The solar radius to the sun's poles and that to the equator differ slightly due to the Sun's rotation, which induces an oblateness in the order of 10 parts per million.

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