Pounds to Solar Masses (lb to M☉)
1 pound equals 2.281112463×10⁻³¹ solar masses (rounded).
How to convert pounds to solar masses
To convert pounds to solar masses, multiply the number of pounds by 2.281112463×10⁻³¹. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply solar masses by 4.383825945×10³⁰ (rounded).
solar masses = pounds × 2.281112463×10⁻³¹
Example: 10 pounds = 2.281112463×10⁻³⁰ solar masses.
Approximate value. Standards for the solar mass varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.
About these units
Pound (lb)
Exactly 0.45359237 kg, divided into 16 ounces. The standard unit of weight in the US and common in the UK.
Why is pound abbreviated lb? The answer is Roman. The English word comes from the Latin libra pondo, roughly the weight measured in libra, and the symbol keeps the first word. The Roman libra was divided into 12 unciae. The avoirdupois pound of 16 ounces came into general use around 1300 and was initially equal to 6,992 troy grains; under Elizabeth I it was redefined as 7,000 grains. The UK's Weights and Measures Act 1878 set the imperial standard pound as a platinum cylinder, and the troy pound was abolished for trade the following year.
Today the pound is defined from the kilogram. The International Yard and Pound Agreement of 1959 fixed it at exactly 0.45359237 kg, and the UK's Weights and Measures Act 1963 wrote the same figure into law. Pounds remain the everyday unit for body weight, groceries and shipping in the United States and are widely used in the UK. The word also survives in odd places: a six-pounder cannon was named for the weight of its shot, not its own.
1 pound = 0.45359237 kilograms (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Pound (mass); NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8 (mass conversions)
Solar Mass (M☉)
About 1.988×10³⁰ kg, the mass of the Sun (roughly 332,946 Earths). Used for stars and galaxies.
The solar mass is the mass of the Sun used as the standard weight for stars, black holes and galaxies. The best estimate is about 1.98847 x 10^30 kg, with an uncertainty near 0.005 percent, while the International Astronomical Union's nominal value is 1.988416 x 10^30 kg. That is about 332,946 Earth masses, commonly rounded to 333,000.
Isaac Newton made the first known estimate in the Principia of 1687, putting the Earth to Sun mass ratio at about 1 to 28,700. In the third edition he revised this to 1 to 169,282 after finding that his solar parallax was faulty. Transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769 later improved the Sun's distance, and Cavendish's 1798 measurement gave a usable value of G.
The unit predates precise values of G and the astronomical unit, and it survives because Kepler's third law lets astronomers compute the masses of planets and binary stars directly from orbital data in solar units. The product GM of the Sun is known far better than the mass itself.
1 solar mass = 1.98847×10³⁰ kilograms (approximately).
Sources: Wikipedia: Solar mass
Related conversions
- Solar masses to pounds (reverse)
- Pounds to kilograms
- Pounds to grams
- Pounds to metric tons
- Pounds to ounces
- Pounds to milligrams
- Pounds to micrograms
- Pounds to carats
- Pounds to stone
- Pounds to short tons
- Pounds to long tons
- Pounds to troy ounces
- Pounds to daltons
- Kilograms to solar masses
- Grams to solar masses
- Metric tons to solar masses
- Ounces to solar masses
See all weight & mass units.