Question

Ceres is an asteroid with a mass of 8.7 x 10^20 kg that is 2.767 AU from the Sun. How many kilometers away is it from the Sun?

Answer 1

In this problem the mass of the asteroid is completely irrelevant. To solve this we are going to take advantage of the fact the 1AU=149,598,000 kilometers, so we can establish a conversion factor as follows:

`2.767AU* (149598000km)/(AU) =413937666`

We can conclude that the asteroid is 413,937,666 kilometers away from the sun, or in scientific notation 4.139376660·
`10^8` kilometers away form the sun.

Answer 2

Ceres is
`4.15*10^(8)` km away from sun.

Explanation:

We know that,

1 AU =
`1.50*10^(8)` Km

So, 2.767 AU in kilometers will be :

Applying the conversion of units:

`2767*(1.50*10^(8))`

= 415050000 km.

In exponential form we can re write this as :

`4.15*10^(8)` kilometer.

Thus, Ceres is
`4.15*10^(8)` kilometers away from the sun.