Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Size of planets and stars

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Size of planets and stars

Original - An illustration of the comparative sizes of planets and stars. Starting with the planet Mercury at the top left we follow a growing sequence of planets and then a growing sequence of stars until we reach the second largest known star VV Cephei in the bottom right.
Reason
It's a mind-blowing sequence. The viewer is invited to reflect on stars so large their size strains the limits of comprehension. It's a high resolution, accurate and thought-provoking image - certainly a worthy candidate.
Articles this image appears in
Star#Characteristics, Orders_of_magnitude_(length)#Astronomical
Creator
Dave Jarvis
  • Image Data (obtained from NASA and Wikipedia):
Image Data for Planets and Stars

 

Sun
 ( ) Radius: 695500 : 2230 = 311.883408 = r
 (E) Relative: 109.046723
 (J) Relative: 9.72836122
 -> Sun Dist: 0

Mercury
 ( ) Radius: 2440 / r = 7
 (E) Relative: 0.376293509
 -> Sun Dist: 57909175
 (R) Sun Dist: 0.57909175

Venus
 ( ) Radius: 6051 / r = 19
 (E) Relative: 0.948730009
 -> Sun Dist: 108208930
 (R) Sun Dist: 1.08208930

Earth
 ( ) Radius: 6378 / r = 21
 (E) Relative: 1
 -> Sun Dist: 149597890
 (R) Sun Dist: 1.49597890

Moon
 ( ) Radius: 1737
 (E) Relative: 0.27234

Mars
 ( ) Radius: 3397 / r = 11
 (E) Relative: 0.532612104
 -> Sun Dist: 227936640
 (R) Sun Dist: 2.27936640

Jupiter
 ( ) Radius: 71492 / r = 229
 (E) Relative: 11.2091565
 (J) Relative: 1
 -> Sun Dist: 778412020
 (R) Sun Dist: 7.78412020

Saturn
 ( ) Radius: 60268 / r = 193
 (E) Relative: 9.44935717
 -> Sun Dist: 1426725400
 (R) Sun Dist: 14.26725400

Uranus
 ( ) Radius: 25559 / r = 82
 (E) Relative: 4.00736908
 -> Sun Dist: 2870972200
 (R) Sun Dist: 28.70972200

Neptune
 ( ) Radius: 24764 / r = 80
 (E) Relative: 3.88272186
 -> Sun Dist: 4498252900
 (R) Sun Dist: 44.98252900

Sun
 (S) Relative: 1

Wolf 359
 (S) Relative: .1725
 (J) Relative: 1.70246321

Sirius
 (S) Relative: 1.711
 (J) Relative: 16.6354977
 (Si) Relative: 1
 (C) White with bluish tinge ("white")

Pollux
 (S) Relative: 8
 (Si) Relative: 4.76190476
 (C) Light orange ("orange")

Arcturus
 (S) Relative: 15.9
 (Si) Relative: 9.46428571
 (C) Light orange ("orange")

Aldebaran
 (S) Relative: 25
 (Si) Relative: 14.8809524
 (Al) Relative: 1
 (C) Light orange ("orange")

Rigel
 (S) Relative: 70
 (Al) Relative: 2.8
 (C) Bluish-white ("blue-white")

Betelgeuse
 (S) Relative: 650
 (Al) Relative: 26
 (C) Reddish orange ("red")

Antares
 (S) Relative: 700
 (Al) Relative: 28
 (An) Relative: 1
 (C) Reddish orange ("red")

S Doradus
 (S) Relative: 1000
 (An) Relative: 1.42857143
 (C) Bluish ("blue")

KY Cygni
 (S) Relative: 1420
 (An) Relative: 2.02857143
 (C) Reddish orange ("red")  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Thangalin (talkcontribs) 19:31, 17 February 2009 (UTC) 

VV Cephei A
 (S) Relative: 1900
 (An) Relative: 2.71428571
 (C) Reddish orange ("red")[reply]
Where "(S) Relative:" denotes size relative to our Sun. Thangalin (talk) 18:30, 17 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]


Promoted Image:Star-sizes.jpg --SpencerT♦C 02:24, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]