How do we measure the mass of the Earth and the Sun?

Calculating the Sun's Mass. Knowing the mass and radius of the Earth and the distance of the Earth from the sun, we can calculate the mass of the sun (right), again by using the law of universal gravitation. read more

M' is the mass of the orbited object in kilograms; 'r' is the distance between the centers of the two ogjects in meters; 'T' is the time it takes the orbiting object to orbit the planet or sun you want the mass of and 'G' is the Universal Gravitational Constant (6.672 x 10-11 Nm 2 /kg 2) and pi is 3.14. read more

The centripetal force is the Earth's mass times the square of its speed divided by its distance from the sun. By astronomically determining the distance to the sun, we can calculate the earth's speed around the sun and hence the sun's mass. read more

We can compute the mass of the sun given the mass of earth, distance between the sun and earth and the gravitational force between sun and earth. The force of gravity between sun and earth is given by the following equation. F = (G*M*m)/R*R G is gravitational constant, and its value is 6.67 * 10^(-11) Nm^2/kg^2. read more

Knowing the mass and radius of the Earth and the distance of the Earth from the sun, we can calculate the mass of the sun (right), again by using the law of universal gravitation. The gravitational attraction between the Earth and the sun is G times the sun's mass times the Earth's mass, divided by the distance between the Earth and the sun squared. read more