The table below gives the escape velocity from each object and from the Sun at the distance of that object's orbit.
| Body | Mass (kg) | Radius (km) | Orbit (AU) | Escape Velocity (km/s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
from its surface |
from the Sun at its orbit |
||||
| Sun | 1.99 x 1030 | 696000 | 0 | 618 |
N/A |
| Mercury | 3.30 x 1023 | 2439 | 0.39 | 4.2 |
67 |
| Venus | 4.87 x 1024 | 6051 | 0.72 | 10.4 |
70 |
| Earth | 5.98 x 1024 | 6378 | 1.0 | 11.2 |
50 |
| Moon | 7.35 x 1022 | 1738 | (384000) | 2.38 |
1.4 (from Earth) |
| Mars | 6.42 x 1023 | 3393 | 1.5 | 5.0 |
34 |
| Phobos | 1.08 x 1016 |
11 |
(9378) |
11 m/s | 3.0 (from Mars) |
| Deimos | 1.8 x 1015 | 6 | (23459) | 6.3 m/s |
1.9 (from Mars) |
| Ceres | 8.7 x 1020 | 467 | 2.8 | 0.50 |
25 |
| Vesta | 3.0 x 1020 | 265 | 2.3 | 0.39 |
28 |
| Pallas | 3.18 x 1020 | 261 | 2.8 | 0.40 |
25 |
| Jupiter | 1.90 x 1027 | 71492 | 5.2 | 59.5 |
19 |
| Io | 8.93 x 1022 | 1815 | (421000) | 2.56 |
25 (from Jupiter) |
| Europa | 4.80 x 1022 | 1569 | (671000) | 2.02 |
19 (from Jupiter) |
| Ganymede | 1.48 x 1023 | 2631 | (1070000) | 2.74 |
15 (from Jupiter) |
| Callisto | 1.08 x 1023 | 2400 | (1883000) | 2.45 |
12 (from Jupiter) |
| Saturn | 5.69 x 1026 | 60268 | 9.5 | 35.5 |
14 |
| Titan | 1.35 x 1023 | 2575 | (1221000) | 2.64 |
7.9 (from Saturn) |
| Uranus | 8.68 x 1025 | 25559 | 19 | 21.3 |
9.6 |
| Neptune | 1.02 x 1026 | 24764 | 30 | 23.4 |
7.7 |
| Pluto | 1.29 x 1022 | 1150 | 40 | 1.22 |
6.7 |
| Charon | 1.90 x 1021 | 564 | (19600) | 0.67 |
0.3 (from Pluto) |
| Sirius B (a white dwarf star) | 2 x 1030 | 11700 | N/A | 4775 |
50 (from 1 AU) |
| Black Hole (1 solar mass) | 1.99 x 1030 | 6 | N/A | c (speed of light) |
50 (from 1 AU) |
Note that the Gas Giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) do not have solid surfaces. The radius of these planets is specified as the point where the pressure in their atmosphere is approximately equal to that at the surface of the Earth. Phobos and Deimos (the moons of Mars) are oddly shaped and the radius given is an average. Ceres, Pallas and Vesta are the three largest asteroids that orbit between Mars and Jupiter. In 1802 Ceres and Pallas were considered to be planets, but were downgraded to asteroids when it was realised there were many such things orbiting between Mars and Jupiter (see this US Naval Observatory page for more details).
Sirius B is our closest white dwarf star and is the unseen compaion to the white star Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. A 1 solar mass black hole is quite small as there are some with millions of solar masses.
For comparison, here are the RMS speeds for certain gasses at STP:
| Gas | RMS (km/s) |
| H | 1.97 |
| He | 1.39 |
| H2 | 0.53 |
| O2 | 0.49 |
| CO2 | 0.42 |
The escape velocity (v) of a body depends on the mass (M) and the radius (r) of the given body. The formula which relates these quantities is:
where G is called the Gravitational constant.
When calculating the escape velocity using this formula it is best to stick to the MKS system where the units for distance are meters, the units for mass are kilograms, and the units for time are seconds. In this system, the gravitational constant has the value:
G = 6.67 x 10-11 Newton-meter2/kilogram2.
Created by Grant Nicholson