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Originally Posted by Michael Mozina
Quote:
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Originally Posted by PatKelley
The question was why would we expect the mass of the sun to be different from what was measured. We know the volume, we estimate the mass from gravitational interaction, yet you have implied that we cannot or don't know the mass which leaves room for your conjectures, so the question is irrelevant. I asked "why?" This is not a barrage of questions, as near as I can ascertain.
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First of all, I am NOT suggest we should expect to see any change in the sun's "mass" relative to earth. I do not however fully understand it overall mass since it is in motion and being accelerated at the same time. I'm not sure how this factors into the equation just yet. I respect your question, but "I don't know" is going to have to do for the time being. |
In this post:
http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/vi...=495513#495513
I linked here:
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/as...s/970609f.html
That is how we know the mass of the sun. Given the mass and volume, we can determine the density. And that does not allow for a large percentage of a dense element like iron.