Saturn is approximately 1.5 billion kilometers from the Sun. What is the distance in AU?

A. 10,000 AU
B. 1,000 AU
C. 100 AU
D. 10 AU



Answer :

To determine the distance from Saturn to the Sun in Astronomical Units (AU), we need to perform a few steps:

1. Understand the given distance:
- Saturn is 1.5 billion kilometers away from the Sun. In numeric form, this distance is [tex]\( 1.5 \times 10^9 \)[/tex] kilometers.

2. Know the conversion factor:
- 1 Astronomical Unit (AU) is approximately 149,597,870.7 kilometers.

3. Convert the distance from kilometers to AU:
- To convert kilometers to AU, we divide the distance in kilometers by the number of kilometers per AU:
[tex]\[ \text{Distance in AU} = \frac{1.5 \times 10^9 \text{ km}}{149,597,870.7 \text{ km/AU}} \][/tex]

4. Calculate:
- Perform the division to find the distance in AU:
[tex]\[ \text{Distance in AU} \approx \frac{1,500,000,000 \text{ km}}{149,597,870.7 \text{ km/AU}} \approx 10.03 \text{ AU} \][/tex]

5. Match the closest given option:
- The options given are:
- 10,000 AU
- 1,000 AU
- 100 AU
- 10 AU

- Since 10.03 AU is closest to 10 AU, the correct answer is 10 AU.

Therefore, the distance from Saturn to the Sun is approximately [tex]\( \boxed{10 \text{ AU}} \)[/tex].