solar system space dust avg density[kg/m^3]

R.L.Jacobsen

What avg density [kg/m^3] may I attribute to solar system space dust? Halliday & Resnick give
E-18 to E-21 [kg/^3]. This will allow me to compute solar system density, if I know solar system radius[m], ie, distance from edge of solar system to centre-of-mass of our Sun.
By 'space dust' I mean any mass, not found within our Sun and its planets. This would include
moons, comets, asteroids. If you can give me the total mass and volume of the moons in our solar system, then I will alter my definition of space dust to mean any mass, not found within our Sun, moons, and suns planets.

soothsayer

There are so many moons in the solar system. Make an approximation. Wikipedia has the masses of every moon in our solar system. Find out how many ones there are of significant size and make an order or magnitude calculation. I don't know how much it will change the numbers, the solar system is pretty huge...Also, what do you define as the edge of the solar system?

mfb

A good first approximation for the total mass of the solar system is the mass of the sun.
Include the planets, and you get an even better approximation.
If you really care about the 6. or 7. digit, add the big moons (there are less than 10 with relevant mass) and look for some estimates about Kuiper belt objects - problably the biggest source of uncertainty.

Chronos

The sun comprises over 99% of the mass of the solar system.

soothsayer

mfb, chronos, I think the OP wanted to leave out the sun and the planets in his calculations...But yes, you're right, the density of the solar system in its entirety is basically determined by the sun.