The distance from Earth to the center of the Milky Way galaxy is 25,000 light years. The distance from Earth to the sun is 1.58 x 10^5 light years. To find out how many times closer Earth is to the sun than to the center of the Milky Way, we can divide the two distances.
So, the calculation would be:
(1.58 x 10^5 light years) / (25,000 light years)
Simplifying the expression:
(1.58 x 10^5) / 25000
This can be further simplified as:
1.58 x 10^5 / 25000
= 6.32
Therefore, Earth is approximately 6.32 times closer to the sun than to the center of the Milky Way.
To better understand this concept, let's use an analogy. Imagine you are standing in the middle of two points: Point A (representing the center of the Milky Way) and Point B (representing the sun). The distance from Point A to Point B is 25 units, while the distance from Point A to your position is 1.58 x 10^5 units.
If we compare the two distances, we can see that you are 6.32 times closer to the sun (Point B) than to the center of the Milky Way (Point A).
Therefore, Earth is approximately 6.32 times closer to the sun than to the center of the Milky Way.