how many jupiters can fit in the sun
About 1,000 Jupiters could fit inside the Sun by volume, with a commonly cited estimate of about 988 Jupiters.
Quick Scoop
- The Sun is a sphere with a radius of about 696,000â700,000 km.
- Jupiterâs radius is about 69,900â71,500 km (roughly 10 times smaller than the Sunâs).
- For spheres, volume scales with the cube of the radius, so the Sunâs volume is roughly (RSun/RJupiter)3(R_{\text{Sun}}/R_{\text{Jupiter}})^3(RSunâ/RJupiterâ)3.
- Using typical values, the radius ratio is about 10, and 103â1,00010^3\approx 1{,}000103â1,000, which is why the answer is close to a thousand.
- A detailed calculation using precise radii gives a volume ratio of about 988 , so you can say âabout a thousand Jupitersâ and still be accurate.
Mini Story: Stacking Giant Worlds
Imagine you could shrink the Sun into a giant, transparent cosmic jar and
start âpouring inâ Jupiter-sized planets like marbles.
Youâd keep dropping them inâhundreds and hundreds of gas giantsâuntil youâd
packed in almost a thousand before running out of room.
That picture also shows just how dominant the Sun is: even our largest planet, Jupiter, is tiny compared with the star that holds the whole solar system together.
TL;DR: By volume, you can fit about 1,000 Jupiters (â988) inside the Sun.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.