Solar radius is a unit of
distance used to express the size of
stars in
astronomy equal to
radius of the
Sun. The solar
radius is usually defined as the radius to the layer in the solar
photosphere where the
optical depth equals 2/3.:
The solar radius is approximately 695,700 kilometres (432,288 miles), which is about 10 times the average radius of
Jupiter, 110 times the radius of the
Earth, and 1/215th of an
astronomical unit, the distance of Earth from the Sun. It varies slightly from pole to equator due to its
rotation, which induces an oblateness of order 10 parts per million.
(See 1 gigametre for similar distances.)