As a complement to ""The Size of Everything"", here is the equivalent chart comparing the mass of everything that is known in space. Again the scale is logarithmic. The opaque range for each category indicates the mass range of objects that have actually been seen, while the gradient indicates either uncertainty, what may yet be found or what is theoretically possible. Large discrepancies are annotated in the table below. The data are mostly from Wikipedia, corroborated with the links given in the annotations. A conversion table for all used mass units is included in the chart.
| Object type | Mass range [kg] | Mass range [Common unit]1 |
|---|---|---|
| Particle | 5.3×10-36 – 3.1×10-25 | ~3 eV – 174 GeV |
| Good overview over particle masses here, especially the particle chart. The lightest paritcle is the electron neutrino, with a mass of <2 eV. | ||
| Atom | 1.7×10-27 – 5.0×10-25 | 938 MeV – 285 GeV |
| The mass of an atom (as opposed to size) is dominated by the nucleus, so it is in good approximation proton mass * mass number. Can become much higher if the island of stability exists. Atomic Weights and Isotopic Compositions (NIST) | ||
| Molecule | 3.3×10-27 – 2.4×10-27 | 1.87 GeV – 138 GeV |
| This refers only to those molecules so far found in space. The largest known molecules, i.e. DNA, measures in picogram, so there is much room for growth yet. | ||
| Dust | 2.4×10-23 – 3.0×10-9 | 13.5 TeV – 3.0 µg |
| Dust mass is inferred from size and a density given as 1-3 g/cm3. See Interplanetary Dust (Wikipedia). | ||
| Cell | 4.2×10-18 – 1.4×100 | 4.2 fg – 1.4 kg |
| Cell masses from Hypertextbook. The heaviest, according to this, is am Ostrich egg. | ||
| Meteoroid | 1.0×10-9 – 2.0×107 | 1.0 µg – 20 kT |
| The dividing line between Meteoroids and Asteroids is assumed at ~10m, as discussed in "On the Definition of the Term Meteoroid". Mass limits are inferred from this and a density range of 1-9 g/cm3. | ||
| Asteroid | 1.1×106 – 8.7×1020 | 10 kT – 1.45×10-4 m⊕ |
| (See above) There is a general scarcity of mass estimates for the smallest objects up to moon size, so I extrapolated from the mass and density of the smallest object in each category for which I have found data: Asteroids: 1994 WR12; Comets: Halley; Moons: Euporie (Jupiter) | ||
| TNO | 4.2×109 – 1.7×1022 | 4.2 MT – 2.83×10-3 m⊕ |
| Lowest mass discovered so far is from a Hubble occultation discovery, but there is no reason to assume that TNOs don't have masses all the way down to dust. TNOs include the Kuiper belt, the Scattered disk, the Detached objects and the Oort Cloud. The discovered objects are mostly from the former three groups, with a few possible exceptions. | ||
| Comet | 3.0×1013 – 1.0×1015 | 30 GT – 1,000 GT |
| (See 'Asteroid') | ||
| Moon | 1.9×1012 – 1.5×1023 | 1.9 GT – 0.025 m⊕ |
| (See 'Asteroid') | ||
| Dwarf Planet | 9.5×1020 – 1.7×1022 | 1.58×10-4 m⊕ – 2.83×103 m⊕ |
| This range is entirely determined by the definition of "Dwarf planet" and the objects so far classified as such. | ||
| Planet | 3.3×1023 – 4.1×1028 | 0.055 m⊕ – 21.5 m♃ |
| The limit between giant planets and brown dwarf is still a subject of debate. Here it is assumed to be somewhere between 13 and 21.5 Jupiter masses. | ||
| Brown Dwarf | 2.5×1028 – 1.5×1029 | 13.0 m♃ – 80.0 m♃ |
| (See above) This is the case likewise for the limit between brown and other dwarf stars: somewhere above 80 Jupiter masses or 0.1 solar masses. | ||
| Main Sequence Star | 2.0×1029 – 8.0×1031 | 0.1 m☉ – 40.0 m☉ |
| Star | 8.0×1028 – 4.0×1032 | 0.04 m☉ – 200 m☉ |
| The category Star here contains everything from Neutron Stars to Hypergiants, while the category above includes only regular stars of the main sequence. | ||
| Black Hole | 4.0×1030 – 1.3×1040 | 2.0 (0.5) m☉ – 6.4×109 m☉ |
| A good overview of black hole masses: Karl Gebhardt's "Black Hole Encyclopedia" (The lower range uncertainty comes from hypothetical primordial black holes at ~0.5 M☉.) | ||
| Protoplanetary Disk | 2.0×1027 – 2.0×1029 | 0.001 m☉ – 0.1 m☉ |
| There may be a continuous transition from Molecular Cloud > Bok Globule > Protostellar Disk > Protoplanetary Disk. See Star formation (Wikipedia). | ||
| Planetary Nebula | 1.2×1028 – 5.2×1030 | 0.006 m☉ – 2.6 m☉ |
| Mass inferred from size and densities as found here. | ||
| Supernova Remnant | 2.7×1030 – 1.1×1032 | 1.38 m☉ – 56 m☉ |
| The lower mass limit for Supernova Remnants is taken from the Chandrasekhar limit for White Dwarfs, at which they become a type Ia Supernova and disintegrate completely. Supernovae (Wikipedia). | ||
| Emission Nebula | 2.0×1027 – 2.0×1038 | 0.001 m☉ – 1.0×108 m☉ |
| See Stan Kurtz, "Hypercompact HII regions" for the lower limit. | ||
| Bok Globule | 2.0×1030 – 1.0×1032 | 1.0 m☉ – 50 m☉ |
| (See 'Protoplanetary disk') | ||
| Dark Nebula | 2.0×1032 – 6.0×1036 | 100 m☉ – 3.0×106 m☉ |
| (See 'Protoplanetary disk') Since Reflection Nebulae are basically a part of a Dark Nebula that is illuminated by a nearby star, and their bounds are not very well defined, they don't get an extra entry. | ||
| Open Cluster | 5.0×1031 – 3.0×1036 | 75 m☉ – 1.0×104 m☉ |
| Data from "The mass function of Galactic Open Clusters" (PDF) | ||
| Globular Cluster | 2.5×1033 – 2.0×1037 | 5.0×103 m☉ – 8.8×106 m☉ |
| Data from Oleg Y. Gnedin's Globular Cluster page. The highest mass GC yet found is Mayall II at the Andromeda galaxy. | ||
| Galaxy | 4.0×1036 – 5.4×1042 | 2.0×106 m☉ – 2.7×1012 m☉ |
| See "Galaxy mass function" (Mark Whittle course notes). | ||
| Galaxy group | 2.0×1041 – 2.8×1044 | 1.0×1011 m☉ – 1.4×1014 m☉ |
| See "Clusters and Superclusters of Galaxies" (Neta A. Bahcall). | ||
| Galaxy cluster | 2.0×1043 – 2.0×1045 | 1.0×1013 m☉ – 1.0×1015 m☉ |
| (See above) and Mark Whittle course notes. | ||
| Supercluster | 2.0×1045 – 8.0×1046 | 1.0×1015 m☉ – 4.0×1016 m☉ |
| (See above) | ||
| Filament | 2.0×1046 – 1.0×1049 | 1.0×1016 m☉ – 1.0×1019 m☉ |
| Filaments or walls as defined here are the largest identifiable parts of the large scale structure of the universe and include objects like the Sloan Great Wall. | ||
| The Universe | 3.0×1052 – ... | 1.5×1022 m☉ – ... |
| See Mass of the Observable Universe (Wikipedia) and Mass of the Universe (Hypertextbook). | ||
The reference points:
| Object | Mass range [kg] | Mass range [Common unit]1 |
|---|---|---|
| Electron Neutrino | <5.34×10-36 kg | 0..2 eV |
| Electron | 9.1095×10-31 kg | 511 keV |
| Human DNA | 6.64×10-15 | 6.64 pg |
| Plank mass | 2.177×10-8 kg | 21.77 µg |
| Human Average | 7.5×101 kg | 75 kg |
| ISS | 4.17×105 kg | 417 T |
| The Great Pyramid | 6.0×109 kg | 6 MT |
| Earth | 6.0×1024 kg | 1 m⊕ |
| Jupiter | 1.9×1027 kg | 1 m♃ |
| Sun | 2.0×1030 kg | 1 m☉ |
| Milky way | 1.16×1042 kg | 5.8×1011 m☉ |
| Observable Universe | 3.0×1052 kg | 1.5×1022 m☉ |
Notes:
1) Common unit: Mass unit most commonly found for each kind of object. m⊕ = Earth masses; m♃ = Jupiter masses; m☉ = Sun masses.
Soures
Wikipedia overviews: Astronomical object, Solar System Portal, Solar System objects by size , List of largest known stars.
Planets, Moons & othe small objects: NASA planetary fact sheets;
The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia;
Mike Brown, The dwarf planets
Stars: Star sizes
Black Holes: Karl Gebhardt's "Black Hole Encyclopedia"
Nebulae: Kurtz, S., Hypercompact HII regions
Star Clusters, Galaxies: Hilker, M., The high mass end of extragalactic globular clusters;
Steffen Mieske, Ultra compact dwarf galaxies
Bill Keel, Galaxies and the Universe
Galaxy Groupings: Galaxy Groups and Clusters, Galaxy Filaments (Wikipedia); Large Scale Structure, T. Jarrett
