solar mass

noun

: the mass of the sun used as a unit for the expression of the masses of other celestial objects and equal to about 2 × 10³⁰ kilograms

Examples of solar mass in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Meanwhile, a merger of two objects spotted via gravitational waves by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration last year has intrigued scientists—because both objects might be less than a solar mass. —Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 4 June 2026

This is believed to be the result of a 34 solar mass black hole colliding and merging with a 32-solar-mass black hole around 1 billion light-years away. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 1 June 2026

There is also an upper limit on the mass left behind by pair instabilities, which is a roughly 130 solar mass black hole. —ArsTechnica, 1 Apr. 2026

But 4 billion light-years away, a tightly orbiting pair of supermassive black holes known as OJ 287 resides, with a ~150 million solar mass black hole orbiting one of tens of billions of solar masses every ~11-12 years. —Ethan Siegel, Big Think, 4 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1941, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for solar mass

• fiberglass
• fibreglass
• hourglass
• isinglass
• lemongrass
• martinmas
• orchardgrass
• overpass
• plexiglas
• plexiglass
• sassafras
• superclass