The centimeter-gram-second system (CGS) is a system of physical units.

Mechanical CGS units

Dimension Unit Definition SI

length centimeter 1 cm 10−2 m

mass gram 1g 10−3 kg

time second 1s 1s

force dyne 1 dyn = 1 g·cm/s² 10−5 N

energy erg 1 erg = 1 g·cm²/s² 10−7 J

power erg per second 1 erg/s = 1 g·cm²/s³ 10−7 W

pressure barye 1 Ba = 1 dyn/cm² = 10−1 Pa

1 g/(cm·s²)

While for most units the difference between cgs and SI are just powers of 10, the differ-
ences in electromagnetic units are more involved. In SI, electric current is defined via the
magnetic force it exerts and charge is then defined as current multiplied with time. In the
cgs system, electrostatic units (esu), charge is defined via the force it exerts on other
charges, and current is then defined as charge per time. One consequence of this ap-
proach is that Coulomb’s law does not contain a constant of proportionality. What this
means specifically is that in cgs electrostatic units, the unit of charge or statcoulomb, is de-
fined as such a quantity of charge that the Coulomb force constant is set to 1. That is, for
two point charges, each with 1 statcoulomb spaced apart by 1 centimeter, the electrostatic
force between them will be, by definition, precisely one dyne. This also has the effect of
eliminating a separate dimension or fundamental unit for electric charge. In cgs electro-
static units, a statcoulomb is the same as a centimeter times square root of dyne. Dimen-
sionally in the cgs esu system, charge Q is equivalent to M1/2L3/2T-1 and not an independ-
ent dimension of physical quantity.

Therefore:

electrostatic unit of charge 1 esu = √(g·cm³/s²) = 3.33564 × 10−10 C

and Coulomb’s law is just:

F = q1 q2 / r2
 ASTRONOMICAL CONSTANTS AND CONVERSION FACTORS

SI VALUE CGS VALUE

Mass of sun (Mu) 1.989x1030 kg 1.989x1033 g

Radius of sun (Ru) 6.959x108 m 6.959x1010cm

Luminosity of sun (Lu) 3.826x1026 W 3.826x1033 erg s-1

Mass of earth (Mr) 5.976x1024 kg 5.976x1027 g

Equatorial Radius of earth (Rr) 6.378x106 m 6.378x108 cm

Astronomical unit (au) 1.496x1011 m 1.496x1013 cm
Parsec (pc) 3.086x1016 m 3.086x1018 cm
Tropical year 3.156x107 s 3.156x107 s

PLANETARY DATA
Planet Semi-Major Axis Sidereal Period Orbital M/M ¾
R/R¾

(au) (tropical yrs) Eccentricity

Mercury .3871 .24085 .2056 0.0558 0.382
Venus .7233 .61521 .0068 0.8150 0.949
Earth 1.000 1.000039 .0167 1.0000 1.000
Mars 1.5237 1.88089 .0934 0.1074 0.532
Jupiter 5.2028 11.8622 .0483 317.893 11.27
Saturn 9.538 29.4577 .0560 94.147 9.44
Uranus 19.191 84.013 .0461 14.54 4.10
Neptune 30.061 164.793 .0097 17.23 3.88
Pluto 39.529 248.54 .2482 .0022 0.180
SOLAR DATA
Apparent bolometric magnitude, mbol: -26.82
Apparent visual magnitude, mV (or V): -26.74
Absolute bolometric magnitude, Mbol: + 4.75
B - V colour index: + 0.65
Spectral Type and Luminosity Class: G2 V
Effective Temperature (Teff): 5770 °K

MISCELLANEOUS
Hubble's Constant: 75 km s-1 Mpc-1
 ASTRONOMY DATA SHEET
UNITS
Physical Quantity SI Unit CGS Value
Mass 1 kg 103 g
Length 1m 102 cm
Time 1s 1 s
Energy 1 joule (J) 107 erg
Power 1 watt (W) 107 erg s-1
Force 1 newton (N) 105 dyne
Velocity 1 m s-1 102 cm s-1
Pressure 1 pascal (Pa) 10 dyn cm-2
Density 1 kg m-3 10-3 g cm-3
Electric Charge 1 Coulomb (C) 2.998x109 esu
Magnetic flux density 1 Tesla (T) 104 gauss

PHYSICAL CONSTANTS AND CONVERSION FACTORS

SI Value CGS Value
Speed of light, c: 2.998x108 m s-1 2.998x1010 cm s-1
Gravitational constant, G: 6.670x10-11 N m2 kg-2 6.670x10-8 dyn cm2 g-2
Planck constant, h: 6.626x10-34 J s 6.626x10-27 erg s
Boltzmann constant, k: 1.381x10-23 J K-1 1.381x10-16 erg K-1
Electric charge, e: 1.602x10-19 C 4.803x10-10 esu
Stefan Boltzmann constant, F: 5.669x10-8 W m-2 K-4 5.669x10-5 erg cm-2 K-4 s-1
Radiation density constant, a: 7.565x10-16 J m-3 K-4 7.565x10-15 erg cm-3 K-4
Mass of electron 9.1096x10-31 kg 9.1096x10-28 g
Mass of proton 1.6726x10-27 kg 1.6726x10-24 g
Mass of neutron 1.6749x10-27 kg 1.6749x10-24 g
Mass of hydrogen atom 1.6735x10-27 kg 1.6735x10-24 g
Mass of helium atom 6.6464x10-27 kg 6.6464x10-24 g
1 amu 1.66053x10-27 kg 1.66053x10-24 g
1 ev 1.602x10-19 J 1.602x10-12 erg
1A 10-10 m 10-8 cm
Wien's law constant 2.898x10-3 m K 0.2898 cm K