How Far Away Is The Sun? - Cool Cosmos - Caltech

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The Sun

  • Why is the Sun round?
  • Will the Sun ever stop shining?
  • What happens during a solar eclipse?
  • Why are sunspots darker than the rest of the Sun?
  • How big is a sunspot?
  • Why does the Sun have spots?
  • Does the Sun move in space?
  • Does the Sun spin?
  • How far away is the Sun?
  • How hot is the Sun?
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  • How large is the Sun compared to Earth?
  • What is the Sun made of?
  • How long has the Sun been shining?
  • How does the Sun shine?
  • What is the Sun?
How far away is the Sun?

The Sun is at an average distance of about 93,000,000 miles (150 million kilometers) away from Earth. It is so far away that light from the Sun, traveling at a speed of 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) per second, takes about 8 minutes to reach us. Like all of the other planets in our Solar System, Earth does not travel around the Sun in a perfect circle. Instead its orbit is elliptical, like a stretched circle, with the Sun just off the center of the orbit. This means that the distance between Earth and the Sun changes during a year. At its closest, the Sun is 91.4 million miles (147.1 million km) away from us. At its farthest, the Sun is 94.5 million miles (152.1 million km) away. The Earth is closest to the Sun during winter in the northern hemisphere.

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